Utah SB 287 (Age Verification)

BadLawUT SB 287Utah, United StatesHigh threat
In force
  1. Introduced
  2. Passed Senate
  3. Passed House
  4. Became Law

Stage 4 of 4: Became Law

One of the first state laws to make adult sites verify a visitor is 18, enforced by private lawsuits rather than a state agency.

Latest update

SB 73 amended the law, adding state enforcement and a VPN location rule

Read the full billView official bill record

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What it does

Utah SB 287 makes any commercial site where more than a third of the content is harmful to minors run a reasonable age verification check before letting anyone in. A visitor proves they are 18 with a state-issued digital ID or a third-party service that reads government ID or transaction records. As first passed, it had no state regulator behind it; a Utah resident sued the site directly. SB 73 added enforcement by the Division of Consumer Protection in 2026.

What’s at stake

Utah wrote the template the rest of the country copied in 2023, and it put the enforcement in the hands of private plaintiffs. Handing your ID to a porn site to prove your age leaves a record that ties a real name to what someone watched.

Our take

Utah went first, and the design it shipped, a one-third content trigger plus a private right to sue, shows up almost word for word in a dozen states since. The industry challenge died on standing grounds, not on the merits, so the law stands untested on what it does to adult privacy.

Timeline

SB 73 amended the law, adding state enforcement and a VPN location ruleLatest

Took effect

Signed into law

Sponsors

Sen. Todd Weiler, Rep. Susan Pulsipher

Votes

  • Senate — Passed (26 to 0) · February 28, 2023
  • House — Passed (70 to 0) · March 2, 2023

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