{"id":7999,"date":"2026-03-30T14:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T12:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/?post_type=hbi-publications&#038;p=7999"},"modified":"2026-04-27T16:42:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:42:43","slug":"assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance","status":"publish","type":"hbi-publications","link":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7832 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/26-03-30-Bewertung-von-Technologien-zur-Altersueberpruefung-Wirksamkeit-Nebenwirkungen-und-Akzeptanz_Stephan-Dreyer-300x193.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/26-03-30-Bewertung-von-Technologien-zur-Altersueberpruefung-Wirksamkeit-Nebenwirkungen-und-Akzeptanz_Stephan-Dreyer-300x193.jpg 300w, https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/26-03-30-Bewertung-von-Technologien-zur-Altersueberpruefung-Wirksamkeit-Nebenwirkungen-und-Akzeptanz_Stephan-Dreyer-768x494.jpg 768w, https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/26-03-30-Bewertung-von-Technologien-zur-Altersueberpruefung-Wirksamkeit-Nebenwirkungen-und-Akzeptanz_Stephan-Dreyer.jpg 840w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the article \u201cAssessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance,\u201d Dr. Wouter Lueks, <a href=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/employee\/stephan-dreyer\/\">Dr. Stephan Dreyer<\/a>, Prof. Dr. Hannes Federrath, and Prof. Dr. Judith Simon analyze existing age verification methods. The article was first published as a manuscript on \u201cArXiv,\u201d the free preprint server and open-access archive.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/pdf\/2603.25695\">Click here<\/a> to read the article.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Abstract<\/h2>\n<p>In this paper, we provide an overview and evaluation of different types of age assurance technologies (AAT). We describe and analyse 1) different approaches to age assurance online (age verification, age estimation, age inference, and parental control and consent), as well as 2) different age assurance architectures (online, offline device-based, offline credential-based), and assess their various combinations with regards to their respective a) effectiveness, b) side effects, and c) acceptance. We then discuss general limitations of AAT\u2019s effectiveness stemming from the possibility of circumvention and outline the most important side effects, in particular regarding privacy and anonymity of all users; bias, discrimination, and exclusion; as well as censorship and related concerns. We conclude our analyses by offering some recommendations on which types of AAT are better or less suited to protect minors online. Guiding our assessment is a weighing of effectiveness against side effects, resulting in a graduated hierarchy of acceptable AAT mechanisms.<\/p>\n<p>Wouter Lueks, Stephan Dreyer, Hannes Federrath, Judith Simon (2026). Assessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance. arXiv:2603.25695 [cs.CY], <a href=\"https:\/\/deu01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.48550%2FarXiv.2603.25695&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cwisskommfis%40leibniz-hbi.de%7C80b2b070ba5b4ad96ea108de8bf9c2c7%7Cfebc0af1a9914670a3aa9d70a2c3569d%7C0%7C0%7C639102101985478817%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=GOLny2r2sZx9iQZtKNczkY98EGJIUSIQ6HObFIir5TA%3D&amp;reserved=0\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.48550\/arXiv.2603.25695<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2579,"template":"","tags":[398,400],"class_list":["post-7999","hbi-publications","type-hbi-publications","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-miscellaneous","tag-other-publications"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Assessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance - Leibniz Institut f\u00fcr Medienforschung | Leibniz Institute for Media Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Assessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the article \u201cAssessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance,\u201d Dr. Wouter Lueks, Dr. Stephan Dreyer, Prof. Dr. Hannes Federrath, and Prof. Dr. Judith Simon analyze existing age verification methods. The article was first published as a manuscript on \u201cArXiv,\u201d the free preprint server and open-access archive. Click here to read the article. &nbsp; [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leibniz Institut f\u00fcr Medienforschung | Leibniz Institute for Media Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-27T14:42:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Header-Publikationen.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/hbi-publications\\\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/hbi-publications\\\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\\\/\",\"name\":\"Assessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance - Leibniz Institut f\u00fcr Medienforschung | Leibniz Institute for Media Research\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/hbi-publications\\\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/hbi-publications\\\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/Header-Publikationen.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-30T12:51:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-27T14:42:43+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/hbi-publications\\\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/hbi-publications\\\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/hbi-publications\\\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/Header-Publikationen.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/Header-Publikationen.jpg\",\"width\":1380,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"flying book with open pages in front of a blue sky\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/hbi-publications\\\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Homepage\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Assessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Leibniz HBI\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Leibniz HBI\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/01\\\/HBI_Logo-Kopie-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/01\\\/HBI_Logo-Kopie-2.png\",\"width\":462,\"height\":123,\"caption\":\"Leibniz HBI\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Assessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance - Leibniz Institut f\u00fcr Medienforschung | Leibniz Institute for Media Research","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Assessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance","og_description":"In the article \u201cAssessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance,\u201d Dr. Wouter Lueks, Dr. Stephan Dreyer, Prof. Dr. Hannes Federrath, and Prof. Dr. Judith Simon analyze existing age verification methods. The article was first published as a manuscript on \u201cArXiv,\u201d the free preprint server and open-access archive. Click here to read the article. &nbsp; [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/","og_site_name":"Leibniz Institut f\u00fcr Medienforschung | Leibniz Institute for Media Research","article_modified_time":"2026-04-27T14:42:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1380,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Header-Publikationen.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/","url":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/","name":"Assessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance - Leibniz Institut f\u00fcr Medienforschung | Leibniz Institute for Media Research","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Header-Publikationen.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-30T12:51:09+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-27T14:42:43+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Header-Publikationen.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Header-Publikationen.jpg","width":1380,"height":400,"caption":"flying book with open pages in front of a blue sky"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/assessing-age-assurance-technologies-effectiveness-side-effects-and-acceptance\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Homepage","item":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Assessing Age Assurance Technologies: Effectiveness, Side-Effects, and Acceptance"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/","name":"Leibniz HBI","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/#organization","name":"Leibniz HBI","url":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/HBI_Logo-Kopie-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/HBI_Logo-Kopie-2.png","width":462,"height":123,"caption":"Leibniz HBI"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hbi-publications\/7999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hbi-publications"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hbi-publications"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}