Utah Age Verification: Adult Sites Can Keep ID and Selfies

Utah Age Verification: Adult Sites Can Keep ID and Selfies

Full Episode Transcript

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Starting 11/2/2026, an adult in Utah who wants to visit certain websites has to hand over a selfie or a photo of a government ID.

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The state won't collect that data

The state won't collect that data.

A private company will.

If you've ever clicked a button that says "I'm eighteen," this story is about you.

That button is going away in Utah, and the replacement asks for your face or your driver's license.

Utah's law is called S.B. seventy-three.

Utah's Division of Consumer Protection can now take adult websites to court if they don't use reasonable age checks.

According to the reporting, fines can reach twenty-five hundred dollars per violation.

It sounds like a simple child-safety rule.

So the real question is this.

Once you prove your age, who keeps the proof?

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Start with how it works

Start with how it works.

Picture a bartender checking your I.D.

He looks at it, nods, and hands it back.

Nothing is copied or stored.

Online, that isn't how it goes.

Privacy experts say you upload the image to a third-party system, and that company decides what happens next.

The state sets the rule, but the platforms and their vendors hold the data.

That's an uneven setup, and adults in Utah face a blunt choice.

Upload your What Is A Biometric Passport A Chip Skimmed From 14 Inches or I.D., or lose access.

Next, the part that bothers privacy advocates most.

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The article quotes critics who say every age check

The article quotes critics who say every age check mandate creates a central database of extremely sensitive information.

They call these databases honeypots.

That just means a jackpot for hackers.

One breach could expose faces and government I.D.s, all tied to a very private browsing habit.

That's why critics point to recent breaches of age-verification vendors and leaks of I.D. images.

They say those leaks turn into extortion targets.

Imagine getting an email that says, we have your license, and we know where you've been.

That risk is why it matters who holds the data.

Companies often promise that they delete the image quickly, or that they convert it into a token.

A token is a stand-in code that says "this person passed," without keeping the picture.

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Critics say privacy risks stay central even then

Critics say privacy risks stay central even then.

One reason is that the term "reasonable age verification" hasn't been defined in a way that guarantees deletion.

A site can say it deletes your data.

The law doesn't clearly force it to.

There's another side, and it deserves a fair hearing.

State officials say enforcement shields kids from explicit material.

They note that major platforms have faced sustained criticism for not gatekeeping well.

The law also adds a two percent excise tax on covered companies.

That money goes to youth mental health programs.

And some critics of the privacy-friendly options say checking age on your own device is unproven at large scale.

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They argue that some record-keeping may be

They argue that some record-keeping may be unavoidable if companies are going to be held accountable.

A court has put a preliminary injunction on the part of the law that deals with V.P.N.s.

That's the software people use to hide their location.

Utah decided it could still enforce the core age check.

So that piece is live, and the rest is tied up in court.

The safety goal and the privacy risk don't cancel each other out.

Both are real, and the law makes you pay for one with the other.

The deciding detail isn't whether you have to prove your age.

It's whether anyone is required to forget it afterward.

Utah now makes some websites check your age, and that can mean sending a selfie or I.D. to a private company.

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