Judge temporarily blocks Utah's new age verification law in Pornhub lawsuit

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge has temporarily blocked part of a new Utah law seeking to crack down on companies that allow Utahns to get around the state's age verification requirements for viewing online pornography.

U.S. District Judge David Barlow sided with the owner of several major online pornography websites Thursday and issued a preliminary injunction blocking part of a new law that would hold companies accountable if users in Utah used virtual private networks or other ways to get around the state's age verification requirements.

Aylo Freesites Ltd., which owns Pornhub, RedTube and several other adult websites, said the law would require companies like it to determine the location of each of its users worldwide to make sure none are improperly accessing adult content within Utah. In a lawsuit filed in April, the company said the new law would allow Utah to hold it liable if even a single user slipped through the cracks.

"In short, Aylo is correct that the statute, as amended, now essentially imposes strict liability for entities like it when it comes to determining the location of its websites' users," Barlow wrote in an order Thursday, in which he said Aylo was "likely to succeed on the merits."

His order temporarily pauses the location provisions in the law while the case plays out.

The Utah Department of Commerce agreed last month to pause enforcement of the new location law, while Aylo agreed to continue blocking access to its site from users in Utah pending the outcome of the request for a preliminary injunction.

Utah first passed a law in 2023 requiring adult websites to verify the ages of users to ensure that nobody under the age of 18 could access pornography and other "harmful content." The law said companies would be responsible for any "damages resulting from a minor's accessing the material."

Pornhub responded by blocking access to its site altogether in Utah.

Earlier this year, state lawmakers expanded the age verification law to hold companies liable even in cases where someone from Utah uses a virtual private network to make it look as if they are outside of the state. Sen. Calvin Musselman, R-West Haven, said he sponsored SB73 to further the same goal of the original age verification law: to protect minors from online pornography.

"We want to protect Utah kids, and this is clearly a way around not having to age-gate," he said of VPN use.

Still, Musselman said he respected the court's decision and said he agreed that lawmakers may have gone too far in setting the standard for age and location verification. He said he would consider tweaking the law during the next legislative session to address the court's concerns while still requiring companies to make sure underage users can't access their sites from Utah.

"I can make adjustments to that portion, and I may do so," he said. "We'll of course consult with legal counsel and do our research and try to make the appropriate adjustments so that we can protect kids."

Aylo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musselman said his law doesn't restrict VPN access to Utahns, nor does it prevent adults from viewing adult content online, provided they verify their age.

"There's zero question that pornography is addictive and it falls in the category of things that negatively affect our children," he said. "This bill is trying to buoy up the protection of those children and to offset the damage that ultimately results from it."

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