Utah temporarily suspended its new age-verification rules for adult sites while a legal challenge is underwaySites are liable for verifying local users, even if they use a VPN to mask their locationThe lawsuit brought by Pornhub's parent, Aylo, cites technical flaws and privacy risksUtah has become the first state in the US to enact legislation explicitly targeting the use of VPNs to bypass age-verification gates on adult websites. However, the state's authorities have agreed to temporarily halt enforcement while a legal challenge plays out in federal court.According to a report from Engadget, Utah's Department of Commerce confirmed it will not enforce the measure, which officially went into effect on Thursday, September 3, against adult websites while it waits for a federal judge to rule. The delay stems from a lawsuit brought by Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, which has argued that the mandate creates an unworkable technical standard for online platforms.The temporary pause offers a sigh of relief for digital privacy advocates who feared the legislation could fundamentally compromise how the best VPN services operate. By targeting the privacy tools themselves rather than just the content, VPN providers have previously told TechRadar that Utah’s strict new law threatens to catch millions of innocent users in its crosshairs.(Image credit: Future)NEW: Leave No Trace — A weekly newsletter on digital privacy and online surveillance.Leave No Trace investigates the companies and governments putting our digital freedom at risk — and the people fighting back.📩 Subscribe now to get every edition delivered to your inbox every Friday, launching this September.Why enforcement is on holdFormally known as the Online Age Verification Amendments (SB 73), the measure was originally meant to take effect in May. However, the initial rollout was paused after Aylo challenged the law in federal court, prompting Utah to delay enforcement.At a hearing on Thursday, the presiding judge stated that "he could not commit to when he would issue a ruling," as reported by Fox 13 News. Until a decision is reached, the state has agreed to an enforcement truce with Aylo, leaving the law in a state of legal limbo.Aylo has been one of the most vocal opponents of age-verification mandates across the US, previously pulling Pornhub out of multiple states rather than comply with laws it claims create a "substantial risk" for user privacy.TechRadar has reached out to Aylo for comment on the ongoing litigation and will update this article if we hear back.The core issues with Utah’s VPN law(Image credit: Getty Images / NurPhoto)Utah's legislation attempts to close a geographical loophole, but, according to VPN experts, it creates a technical whack-a-mole in the process.Under the law, an individual is considered to be accessing a website from Utah if they are physically located in the state, regardless of whether they are using a virtual private network (VPN) or proxy server to spoof their location. The legislation also prohibits websites hosting "a substantial portion of material harmful to minors" from sharing instructions on how to use a VPN to bypass age checks.The fundamental issue is that a VPN’s entire purpose is to encrypt internet traffic and mask a user's true physical location. Websites simply have no reliable way to verify if a user connecting from a server in Germany is actually sitting in Salt Lake City.Privacy groups warn this creates an impossible standard. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) explained, the legal risks could force websites "to mandate age verification for every visitor globally.""This would subject millions of users to invasive identity checks or blocks to their VPN use, regardless of where they actually live," EFF wrote.For now, the enforcement freeze means VPN users in Utah are safe from the immediate fallout, but the digital rights community remains on high alert as the court battle continues.