Federal Judge Blocks Utah Law Targeting VPN Users

Utah's Senate Bill 73, enacted earlier this year, sought to force adult-content sites to block VPN traffic and to determine the true location of users for age-verification purposes. The law also prohibited sites from publishing instructions on how to use VPNs to bypass the checks, making Utah the first state to target VPN usage. Pornhub owners Aylo Freesites Ltd. and Aylo Group Ltd. sued, contending the statute would require them to age-verify every global visitor, violating the dormant Interstate and Foreign Commerce Clauses.

U.S. District Judge David Barlow held that the statute demands an unattainable level of geolocation accuracy, imposing a heavy burden on interstate commerce, and therefore likely violates the Constitution. He issued a preliminary injunction stopping enforcement of the provision that targets VPN users. The ruling was praised by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which highlighted the clash between state legislation and the technical realities of internet tools.