Stop bots and improve labeling quality with a new built-in captcha

Toloka introduces a new built-in captcha service, which is activated automatically and protects your projects from bots and other types of fraud while also improving overall labeling quality.

What are the benefits?

Previously, you had to manually set up project-based captcha rules. This method had a few drawbacks. For example, incorrectly configuring captcha frequency could affect labeling quality and Tolokers' user experience. Tolokers who had to complete an excessive number of captchas in a project would get demotivated and were less likely to complete tasks. High-performing Tolokers could get blocked because of poorly configured captchas, while bots could find their way through and mess up the labeling results.

The new captchas are generated automatically and each pool has them enabled by default, so there is no need to learn how to configure them.

How does it work?

1. Special algorithms determine how often captchas are shown to Tolokers. This way, they don't interfere with the user experience and you get high-quality labeling results.
2. The algorithms for displaying captchas factor in the Toloker's performance across all tasks rather than a specific project, providing a high level of bot protection.

The new system-wide captcha will start replacing the old project-based version on November 23. This will be a gradual rollout. As a result, you might start seeing fewer Toloker bans come from project-based captchas.

Pool settings will no longer include captcha frequency and there won't be any captcha-related quality control rules. This applies to both existing and new projects.

Eventually, the new captcha will replace the old one for all Tolokers. If you have captcha rules in existing pools, they will be ignored. The Toloka API may display old captcha settings even when the built-in captcha is implemented for everyone, but eventually captcha settings will be deprecated.

If you have any questions about the new feature, contact us — we're always happy to help.