SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – In an order issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge David Barlow enjoined a portion of Utah’s age-verification law requiring platforms to age-verify users in the state that would require platforms to verify the age of those users, even if they were using a VPN or similar means to mask their location.
In the order, Barlow wrote that the plaintiffs have “demonstrated that Utah Code section 78B-3-1002(3), the actual-location provision, is likely to violate the United State Constitution’s dormant Commerce Clause, that irreparable harm will result, and that the equities favor an injunction.”
“Accordingly, the court hereby enters a Preliminary Injunction as follows: That Defendants and their agents, employees, and persons in active concert or participation with them shall not enforce Utah Code section 78B-31002(3) until further order of this court,” Barlow added. “Nothing in this Order shall be construed as preventing Defendants from otherwise enforcing Utah Code sections 78B-3-1001 to 1008.”
The order is the result of a lawsuit filed in April by Aylo, the company that operates Pornhub.com, against the Utah Division of Consumer Protection.
In the complaint, Aylo noted that “there is 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.”
“This is not a temporary technological limitation awaiting a solution; it is an inherent feature of how VPNs and proxy servers work, which is precisely why individuals and businesses around the world rely on them for privacy and security,” Aylo added. “Indeed, Utah officials responsible for enacting and enforcing S.B. 73 have admitted that they do not know how a private company is supposed to comply with the law. For example, S.B. 73’s chief legislative sponsor, when asked how providers could identify the true location of individuals using VPNs, responded: ‘That’s a fair question. I’ve talked with Consumer Protection about that, and I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t.’”
Jeffrey Douglas, Board Chair of Free Speech Coalition, called the order “a significant early victory against an invasive, technologically unsound law.”
“We thank Aylo for bringing this suit forward when no one else would, and for standing up for the rights of both the industry and its consumers,” Douglas added.
In a blog post noting the decision, FSC advised that adult sites “should continue to comply with the other portion of Utah’s existing age-verification law.”
