Judge blocks requirement for porn sites to verify age for all ‘actually located’ in Utah

U.S. District Judge David Barlow, a Trump appointee, blocked a Utah law Thursday requiring adult websites to verify the age of any visitor ‘actually located’ in the state, ruling the requirement is likely unconstitutional. Aylo, which owns Pornhub, YouPorn and RedTube, had already blocked Utah IP addresses but sued after lawmakers amended the law this year to cover users regardless of location-masking technology.

Aylo argued roughly 86% of its users are outside the U.S. and that no reliable method exists to verify a visitor's true physical location, meaning the law effectively imposes strict liability. Utah's attorneys conceded pinpointing a user's real location is nearly impossible but argued the statute only demands reasonable effort, suggesting cross-referencing time zones, language and currency settings to estimate location.

Barlow found the law's text includes no such ‘reasonable effort’ standard, writing that ‘a holistic reading of the provisions confirms that reasonableness does not apply to the statute's geolocation requirements.’ The judge concluded the harm of the likely constitutional violation outweighed the state's interest in enforcing it.

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