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Prominent adult attorney Corey Silverstein wrote an article on XBIZ about Utah’s law SB 73.
Here is a summary:
Utah’s new law, SB 73, significantly expands the state’s regulation of adult websites by going beyond traditional age-verification requirements. The legislation requires age verification for users accessing adult content and introduces new provisions aimed at preventing users from bypassing those requirements through VPNs, proxy services, or other location-masking technologies. Under the law, a person physically located in Utah is considered a Utah user regardless of any efforts to conceal their location online.
The measure also adds several enforcement tools, including a 2% excise tax on covered companies, administrative oversight by Utah’s consumer protection authorities, civil penalties for violations, and restrictions on platforms that encourage or assist users in circumventing age-verification systems. Supporters describe the law as a child-protection effort, while critics argue that it places unrealistic compliance burdens on websites and could create liability even when platforms make good-faith efforts to comply.
Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub and other adult platforms, has filed a lawsuit challenging the law, particularly its VPN-related provisions. The company argues that Utah is attempting to hold websites responsible for actions they cannot fully control and that the law interferes with adults’ access to constitutionally protected content. Some portions of the law have reportedly been temporarily paused while the case moves through federal court.
The legal challenge comes after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas’s age-verification law in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, but observers note that Utah’s statute extends much further. Rather than simply requiring age checks, SB 73 seeks to regulate technological circumvention and may raise broader constitutional questions involving due process, vagueness, overbreadth, interstate commerce, and the extent to which states can require online platforms to monitor user behavior.
Privacy concerns have also become a major part of the debate. Critics argue that requiring users to submit identification documents, facial scans, or other personal information to access legal adult content creates security risks and could expose sensitive data to breaches or misuse. The outcome of Aylo’s lawsuit is expected to have implications far beyond Utah, potentially influencing how other states approach age verification, VPN regulation, online privacy, and platform liability in the future.
Here’s the full article: https://www.xbiz.com/features/298906/what-utahs-sb-73-means-for-compliance-requirements
