Utah Code
Utah Code § 76-12-206 (2026)
Unlawful online impersonation
✓ laws through the 2026 General Session (checked Sept. 2026)
Find cases:
SyfertCases citing this section
UT-LEGle.utah.gov
JustiaTitle on Justia
CornellLII Search
CasesGoogle Scholar
As used in this section:
"Commercial social networking website" means a person who operates a website that allows a person to register as a user for the purpose of:
establishing a personal relationship with one or more other users through direct or real time communication with the other user; or
the creation of a web page or a profile available to the public or to other users.
"Commercial social networking website" does not include an electronic mail program or a message board program.
An actor commits unlawful online impersonation if the actor uses the name or persona of an individual:
without the individual's consent;
to create a web page on a commercial social networking website or other website; or
to post or send a message on or through a commercial social networking website or other website, other than on or through an electronic mail program or message board program;
with the intent to cause an individual to reasonably believe that the individual whose name or persona is used authorized or performed the applicable action described in Subsection (2)(b); and
with the intent to harm, defraud, intimidate, or threaten any individual.
Except as provided in Subsection (3)(b), a violation of Subsection (2) is a class A misdemeanor.
A second or subsequent offense of Subsection (2) is a third degree felony.
It is a defense to prosecution under this section that the actor is one of the following entities or that the actor's conduct consisted solely of action taken as an employee of one of the following entities:
a commercial social networking website;
an Internet service provider;
an interactive computer service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. Sec. 230;
a telecommunications provider, as defined in Section 10-1-402;
a cable television service;
an entity that provides cable television service, as defined in Section 10-18-102; or
a law enforcement agency engaged in lawful practices.
Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 173, 2025 General Session
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1
case (1 in the last 5 years), 2026–2026 · leading case: State v. Kent, 2026 UT App 96.
State v. Kent, 2026 UT App 96. “” See Utah Code § 76-12-206. 3 Sergeant agreed that the statute existed, but he testified that he didn’t think that was “what [they] were doing in this case.”
Utah Code § 76-12-206(4)(g): 1 case
State v. Kent, 2026 UT App 96. “” See Utah Code § 76-12-206. 3 Sergeant agreed that the statute existed, but he testified that he didn’t think that was “what [they] were doing in this case.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.