Utah pauses age verification rule enforcement with Pornhub owner pending court ruling

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah won't enforce a proposed rule requiring age verification for adult websites for now under a stipulation agreement with the owner of Pornhub and other adult websites.

The stipulation, agreed to by the Utah Department of Commerce and Aylo Freesites Ltd., pauses enforcement of a proposed rule on age verification for adult websites owned by Aylo pending the outcome of request from the company for a preliminary injunction blocking the rule, or until Utah finalizes its regulation.

Aylo, which owns Pornhub, RedTube and several other adult websites, also agreed to continue blocking access to adult content on its websites in the Beehive State for the same period of time.

"This agreement is strictly limited to Aylo and is contingent upon Aylo maintaining its geofencing restrictions within Utah," a spokesperson for the Division of Consumer Protection told KSL in a statement Thursday. "The arrangement will remain in place until the division's administrative rule takes effect or (the judge) issues a ruling on Aylo's motion for a preliminary injunction, whichever is sooner."

The agreement with Aylo doesn't prevent the state from enforcing its rules against other companies that violate Utah's age verification requirements.

"Pursuant to standard protocol, the division does not comment on or disclose investigation targets, and therefore cannot confirm or deny the existence of active investigations," the division added.

"This stipulation is entered into in light of the Utah Division of Consumer Protection's issuance of a proposed rule," the stipulation agreement, filed in U.S. District Court last month, reads. "Although plaintiffs believe that the proposed rule is fundamentally flawed and does not eliminate their claims or the need for relief, this period of continued forbearance allows plaintiffs to participate in that rulemaking process without the threat of liability in the interim."

The dispute between Utah and Aylo stretches back years, after the state Legislature unanimously passed a bill requiring adult websites to verify the ages of their users to ensure only those who are at least 18 years old can access adult content. The law allowed for a private right of action, meaning individuals could sue over alleged violations of the law.

Pornhub responded by blocking access to its site from users in Utah. Users who tried to access the site received a message urging them to contact their lawmakers about the verification requirement and "demand device-based verification solutions that make the internet safer while also respecting your privacy."

State lawmakers passed another age verification law earlier this year, giving the state's Division of Consumer Protection authority to investigate and enforce its requirements. That law also strengthened age verification requirements in an attempt to crack down on Utahns using virtual private networks or other proxy servers to get around the age verification requirements.

Aylo sued in April and asked a federal judge to pause implementation of the new law, saying "there's no feasible way for a private company like Aylo to reliably verify whether any particular individual is using a virtual private network (VPN), proxy server, or other location-masking technology — and therefore no way to determine whether a user who appears to be located outside Utah is, in fact, located inside Utah."

Under the new law, "adult-entertainment providers are liable for failing to perform age-verification for Utah-based users even if the user appears to be accessing a website from a location outside of Utah and the company had no way of knowing otherwise," the lawsuit states.

U.S. District Judge David Barlow heard arguments in the case on July 30 but has yet to issue a ruling on the request for a preliminary injunction blocking Utah's regulation.

Aylo did not respond to a request for comment on the ongoing litigation.

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