The Utah Republican Party’s official website was targeted by what a senior party official is calling a cyberattack that led to multiple links to pornographic material being uploaded to the party’s page.
The pages, which had seemingly been shared as events to a party calendar, included titles like “[HOT@VIDEO) ! Sophie Rain SpiderMan Video Original Viral Video Link On Social Media X Trending Tiktok” and “[SEX~VIDEOS~XNXX]~ Thai Girl Porn - Thai Onlyfans & Thai sex Porn Videos.”
“It was a cyberattack,” GOP Party Chair Rob Axson said Monday.
He added that it appeared attackers had used the website‘s calendar function to upload the porn links.
“It’s a sign that we must be doing something right if folks want to go and try to undermine or intimidate or slander what we‘re doing,” Axson, who was reelected as party chair Saturday, said of the attack. “I think it’s also telling that they would do it with something so vulgar and inappropriate.”
The embedded links led to sites with sexually explicit images and another with a message that blocked access without a virtual private network.
Because of Utah’s 2023 law requiring adults to verify their age to visit pornographic websites, VPNs have been suggested as a way to disguise the location of a website‘s visitors — and essentially duck the law and skip the age verification requirement.
While porn industry groups sued Utah over the constitutionality of the law, a federal judge dismissed the case in summer 2023.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Republican Party Chair candidate Rob Axson speaks with an attendee during the GOP's state convention at Utah Valley University in Orem on Saturday, May 17, 2025.
The Utah GOP’s official website was quickly locked down — requiring an email address and password to access the webpage — shortly after The Salt Lake Tribune contacted Axson to ask about the links Monday afternoon.
Axson said the material had been removed but that the website would stay locked down while the party ensured any vulnerability was resolved.
The alleged attack happens as U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, looks to pass more regulations to clamp down on pornographic material.
Lee proposes a federal law that could essentially outlaw porn with his Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (IODA), which would amend the current definition of obscenity under the Communications Act of 1934 and set a new federal standard for what is considered obscene.
“Obscenity isn’t protected by the First Amendment, but hazy and unenforceable legal definitions have allowed extreme pornography to saturate American society and reach countless children,” Lee said in a statement last week. “Our bill updates the legal definition of obscenity for the internet age so this content can be taken down and its peddlers prosecuted.”
The Utah GOP chair said such attacks are bound to happen because, he believes, Republicans are a force for good.
“It’s well known that the party believes in more uplifting and positive things and family-oriented things than what they just tried to attack us with,” Axson said. “So we rise above that type of nonsense and move forward.”
This story is breaking and may be updated.