Utah’s Department of Commerce said it would begin enforcing the state’s age verification law for adult websites on Nov. 2, saying a recent court ruling that blocked part of the law still allows it to act against companies that fail to adequately verify users’ ages.
The law, SB73, was approved by state lawmakers this year and expanded Utah’s earlier requirement that websites with a substantial portion of material harmful to minors verify the ages of their users. It defines a substantial portion as more than one third of a site’s material and gives the department’s Division of Consumer Protection authority to investigate violations, impose administrative fines of up to $2,500 per violation and seek civil penalties of the same amount in court.
SB73 also imposes a 2 percent excise tax on covered companies, with the revenue directed to youth mental health programs and age verification enforcement. The division can set age verification standards through rulemaking, and companies that use approved methods are protected by a safe harbor.
A court temporarily blocked the law’s provision on virtual private networks last month after Aylo, the owner of Pornhub, RedTube and other adult websites, sued the state. That provision aims to hold companies accountable when users get around age checks with VPNs or similar technology.
Utah held off on enforcing the new requirements during the litigation, but has determined it can enforce the rest of the law with that part on hold, said Margaret Busse, executive director of the commerce department.
The department said it has “implemented specialized computing and auditing infrastructure developed by enterprise technology partners,” though Busse did not describe how it works. “I don’t want to comment too much on our techniques, but I can say that we are using some advanced technology to be able to assess this,” she said.
Busse said the law requires companies to verify users’ ages rather than their identities, and to delete information used for age checks immediately. She said the state does not collect that data. “We’re not looking to go and issue a lot of fines. We’re looking to make sure they are doing it,” she said.
Aylo said Pornhub has complied with Utah’s original age verification law since it took effect in 2023. “We are glad to see the state of Utah will finally enforce its law after 3.5 years, but this changes nothing about our operations,” the company said, adding that the best solution would be age verification performed on the user’s device.
Sources: KSL, Utah Legislature
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
