That this mechanism of vigilante enforcement is legal and continues to be upheld is extremely concerning. The lawsuit was thrown out because the court has decided this can’t be a first amendment issue over the enforcement mechanism.

Dismissing their lawsuit on Tuesday, he instead said they couldn’t sue Utah officials because of how the law calls for age verification to be enforced. The law doesn’t direct the state to pursue or prosecute adult websites and instead gives Utah residents the power to sue them and collect damages if they don’t take precautions to verify their users’ ages.

I guess this being done on porn is a litmus test to see if this mechanism can be used for more than abortion. Whatever this is, we’re in for some dark times ahead.