A study on Accessibility of Google ReCAPTCHA Systems

Abstract

Web sites and social media should be developed keeping in mind the widest range of users, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. Instead they often use CAPTCHAs to prevent robotic access to data even if they base their tests on the use of sight, since the ability to see an image or a text and recognize or understand its content is a way to make out a human being from a bot. This study shows that Google reCAPTCHA v2 discriminates against users with visual impairments, while reCAPTCHAv3 doesn’t and, for this reason, it is the best available solution nowadays from an accessibility point of view.