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SALT LAKE CITY — The conversation around online access just took another turn in Utah, where the rules are getting a little tighter—and, depending on who you ask, a lot more complicated.
Governor Spencer Cox on Thursday signed a bill into law that will tax adult websites and hold them liable if minors bypass geolocation safeguards.
In addition to updating how the state investigates and enforces age-verification requirements, SB 73 introduces a 2% excise tax on adult sites operating in Utah. The tax applies to transactions for “access to digital images, digital audio-visual works, digital audio works, digital books, or gaming services,” including streaming and subscription-based content.
Industry attorneys have pointed to potential legal challenges the tax could face. Still, Utah isn’t entirely alone here—Alabama passed a similar tax at 10% last year, and lawmakers in Virginia and Pennsylvania have begun exploring comparable measures.
Revenue from the new tax will be directed to a state fund supporting “(a) mental health treatment programs for minors affected by material harmful to minors; (b) educational programs for parents, guardians, educators, and minors on the mental health risks associated with material harmful to minors; (c) early prevention and intervention programs for minors at risk of mental health harm from material harmful to minors; and (d) research and public awareness campaigns addressing mental health harm to minors caused by material harmful to minors.”
VPN Requirements
The legislation also includes a provision addressing how location is determined. It states: “An individual is considered to be accessing the website from this state if the individual is actually located in the state, regardless of whether the individual is using a virtual private network, proxy server, or other means to disguise or misrepresent the individual’s geographic location to make it appear that the individual is accessing a website from a location outside this state.”
That language reflects a growing concern among lawmakers about how easily age-verification systems can be bypassed. VPNs, proxies—tools that once felt niche—are now part of everyday digital life, and policymakers are clearly trying to catch up.
In Ohio, a bill known as the “Innocence Act” would require adult websites to “utilize a geofence system maintained and monitored by a licensed location-based technology provider” to track a user’s physical location and determine whether they are in the state and subject to age-verification requirements.
Meanwhile, in Washington, the proposed Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act—aimed at establishing a federal age-verification standard—would require platforms to take “reasonable measures” to prevent users from circumventing those safeguards.
In Indiana, the state has taken a more direct route, filing a lawsuit against Aylo and its affiliates. Officials allege the company failed to prevent access by users using VPNs to bypass geolocation, even though current state law does not explicitly require platforms to account for intentional circumvention.
The VPN provision in Utah’s SB 73 could influence how the state enforces its own age-verification laws, and it may also raise broader legal questions about whether websites can be held responsible for users who actively try to work around location restrictions.
The law is scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1.
