Utah began enforcing the age-verification requirement in Senate Bill 73 on November 2, but a federal court injunction continues to block the law’s provision targeting users who conceal their location with a VPN or proxy. The state’s Department of Commerce says the injunction applies only to that subsection, leaving the core requirement in force for covered adult websites.
SB 73 requires commercial sites with a substantial amount of material considered harmful to minors to use reasonable methods to verify that visitors are at least 18. Utah’s Division of Consumer Protection can impose fines of up to $2,500 per violation. The law’s 2% excise tax on covered sites has been in effect since October 1.
The blocked provision, Utah Code 78B-3-1002(3), treated people physically in Utah as Utah users even if they hid their IP address with a VPN or proxy. Adult site owner Aylo challenged the provision in April 2026. In September, U.S. District Judge David Barlow issued a preliminary injunction, finding that the rule could require sites to locate every user with certainty and that Aylo was likely to succeed in arguing it placed an excessive burden on interstate commerce.
For Utah residents, the immediate effect is that adult sites continuing to serve the state should ask visitors to verify their age. The report says this may involve an ID check or a face scan through a third-party provider, a practice digital rights groups such as the EFF have warned could require people to share sensitive information with verification firms.
Aylo has blocked Utah users since 2023, so its sites remain unavailable in the state. VPNs remain legal in Utah, and the injunction means sites are not currently subject to the blocked rule concerning users who mask their location.
Sources: TechRadar.