On September 24, 2026, Judge David Barlow granted a preliminary injunction against the actual-location provision, Utah Code 78B-3-1002(3). The rest of the law, including the ban on VPN instructions, was not part of the motion and remains in force.
Utah SB 73 (VPN Age Verification)
BadLawUT SB 73
Utah, United StatesHigh threat
Utah, United StatesHigh threatIn force, except the VPN location rule, which a federal court blocked on September 24, 2026
- Introduced
- Passed Senate
- Passed House
- Became Law
Stage 4 of 4: Became Law
Utah's update to its adult-site age check law counts anyone physically in Utah as a Utah user even behind a VPN, bans sites from explaining VPNs, and adds a 2% tax on adult content sales.
Latest update
Federal court blocked the VPN location rule
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Take action on this issueWhat it does
SB 73 amends Utah's 2023 adult-site age verification law. A person counts as accessing a site from Utah if they are actually located in the state, whether or not they use a VPN or proxy server to appear somewhere else. Sites with a substantial portion of material harmful to minors may not facilitate or encourage VPN use to get around age checks, including by posting instructions. The bill hands enforcement to the Division of Consumer Protection, with fines of up to $2,500 per violation and up to $5,000 for breaking a court or agency order, and lets the Division write rules on approved age verification methods. From October 1, 2026, it also imposes a 2% excise tax on covered adult content sales.
What’s at stake
No site can know for certain where a VPN user is sitting. To avoid liability under the location rule, a site would have to age-check every visitor in every country, which turns one state's ID checkpoint into a rule for the whole internet. The instruction ban goes further and punishes sites for explaining how a common privacy tool works.
Our take
Utah went after the VPN, the one tool that let adults step around its ID checkpoint. The court blocked the location rule because perfect geolocation does not exist, and Utah conceded as much. The ban on explaining VPNs still stands, and the new tax will fund the office that enforces the rest.
Timeline
2% excise tax on adult content sales takes effectUpcoming
Federal court blocked the VPN location ruleLatest
Took effect
Utah agreed not to enforce the VPN location rule while the court challenge ran
Signed by Gov. Spencer Cox
Sponsors
Sen. Calvin Musselman, Rep. Steve Eliason
Votes
- Senate — Passed (22 to 2) · February 23, 2026
- House — Passed (66 to 1) · March 4, 2026
Legal challenges
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