SALT LAKE CITY — The parent company of Pornhub, one of the world's largest adult content websites, asked a federal judge to issue an injunction blocking Utah's tough new age-verification law from being enforced.
During a hearing on Thursday, lawyers for Aylo Freesites argued that the law imposes civil and even criminal liability for any site that may host adult content. At issue is Senate Bill 73, which passed the Utah State Legislature and requires some form of proof that someone is not a minor. The new law then targets VPNs and other efforts to get around any block.
"Although Utah claims an important interest in protecting children from harmful content, the means they use have gone too far," argued Aylo attorney Daniel Schwei. "And instead infringes on individuals throughout the nation and the world."
Pornhub and other adult websites have already blocked Utah IP addresses in protest of laws the legislature has passed. But Aylo sued over Utah's latest law designed to block minors from accessing adult content sites, which is considered one of the toughest in the nation.
Aylo's attorneys argued that what the state of Utah demands ensnares millions of people in surrounding states or other countries that do not have such laws and does not protect website visitor privacy. Utah's law also pushes people to other sites that may not have safeguards in place, Schwei argued. Aylo argued the impact of Utah's law not only affects its constitutional rights, but reputation.
The Utah Attorney General's Office, representing the Division of Consumer Protection, argued it is not difficult to comply with the law and do successful age-verification to keep children from accessing pornographic sites. Assistant Utah Attorney General Annika Hoidal likened it to regulations on gambling and sports betting platforms.
Hoidal argued SB73 requires a "reasonableness standard," and suggested Aylo may be interpreting the new law too strictly. It prompted U.S. District Court Judge David Barlow to directly ask her: "Is the government going on record saying only a reasonableness standard will apply?"
Hoidal said yes. Later in the hearing, the judge asked for clarification on whether that is the position of both the Utah Attorney General's Office and the Utah Division of Consumer Protection, who said it would be the case.
Aylo argued it was not enough and still wanted a preliminary injunction in place.
"This is a statute with potential criminal penalties," Schwei countered in a rebuttal argument to Judge Barlow. "They’re saying, 'OK but it only requires reasonableness.' We have no idea what reasonableness actually means. It’s not defined in the statute itself."
Outside of court, Utah Attorney General Derek Brown told FOX 13 News that SB73 always imposed a "reasonable" standard and this was not a change in approach to enforcement of the law.
"The law says reasonable. That ultimately is what we’re asking companies to do is to use a reasonable standard and that’s what we’ll do," he said. "There’s no standard that’s perfect. That’s why the law says reasonable. That’s our job to make sure that’s the case."
Aylo's attorneys declined to comment to FOX 13 News as they left court.
"We use a reasonableness standard in a lot of other areas and we age-verify things like alcohol and tobacco and so really what’s happening here, we’re basically saying as a law, we’re doing the same thing in the pornography industry," Brown said.
Judge Barlow said he could not commit to when he would issue a ruling on Aylo's injunction request. In the meantime, lawyers for the state and Aylo have agreed to keep the law on hold pending the judge's ruling.
Last year, Aylo and the state reached a settlement over accusations Pornhub, RedTube and other sites hosted illicit materials. Aylo admitted no wrongdoing and the company said at the time it had enhanced measures to keep such content off its sites, but paid $5 million to the state.
