For a secure and protected metaverse
The PRIME – Privacy in the Metaverse project researches how new virtual worlds can be reconciled with personal rights and data protection.
Our Motivation
The PRIME Mission
Our Vision
Explore interfaces and design practices
Design and evaluation of user interfaces and design practices that enable users to effectively exercise their right to privacy within the metaverse and, among other things, adequately support their consent and protect themselves from harassment and assault.
Develop evaluation metrics for metaverse platforms
Development and testing of metrics to evaluate the design of virtual content on metaverse platforms about their impact on user privacy to curb dark patterns and deceptive designs in the metaverse, among other things.
Testing participatory design processes
Research and testing of innovative design and development processes with the help of users' opinions concerning user interfaces and metrics can be collected both by means of classical methods of usability research and with the help of methods used in the metaverse itself.
Timeline
Five steps toward a secure metaverse
Timeframe: 1.7.2023 - 30.6.2026
Design Proposals and Privacy Metrics
Key outcomes of the project are the design recommendations for privacy-friendly metaverse environments and the evaluation metrics presented on this website. These are intended to support developers in creating metaverse environments that respect and protect users’ privacy.
PRIME conference
On 3 June 2026, the key findings of the PRIME project were presented in an online expert discussion and discussed with experts from the fields of data protection, consumer protection, personality rights, youth protection, as well as VR companies and developers.
The following external speakers contributed to the expert discussion:
- Prof. Dr. Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider, Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information
- Josephine Ballon, Managing Director of HateAid
- Silke Schmidt, Head of XR HUB Bavaria
The PRIME project approach is based on using the design of virtual worlds to strengthen privacy. An overall assessment of the project findings shows that this approach is most effective where users and platforms share a common interest in protecting privacy. This is particularly the case in the area of digital violence, as threats to privacy in this context reduce the attractiveness of virtual worlds from the users’ perspective. Platforms therefore also have an economic interest in preventing virtual violence and virtual harassment. Accordingly, there are already some privacy-protective design features in this area, such as blocking functions or minimum distance settings. Nevertheless, digital violence remains widespread in virtual worlds. This suggests that the designs currently in use are still insufficient to provide effective privacy protection, even in this area.
It is even more difficult to establish privacy-preserving designs in areas where companies economically benefit from restrictions on privacy. This applies to the use of social bots for sales promotion and data generation, as well as to data collection for profiling and advertising purposes. Accordingly, privacy-preserving designs are hardly found in these areas, insofar as platforms are financed through the sale of products or advertising tracking. In these areas, privacy-preserving designs must therefore be supported by law enforcement, standardisation, and the further development of the legal framework.
The programme of the expert discussion and the presentation of the project findings are available for download below.
Projectteam
Our Team
Prof. Dr. Christian Thorum
Lead
Christian is the Managing Director of the ConPolicy Institute and an expert in consumer policy issues. In the PRiME project, he leads the research consortium and is responsible for successfully implementing the overall project.
Dr. Sara Elisa Kettner
Project Lead
As a behavioural economist, Sara manages consumer policy projects in the field of responsible digitalization at ConPolicy. She leads the PRiME project and is responsible for the overall coordination of the work packages and project management and planning. She is also involved in the empirical work.
Dr. Otmar Lell
Project Team| Data Protection
Otmar brings insights from his other research activities into the incentive effects of business models for user interfaces and design practices. He also conducts focus group discussions with citizens on their expectations of a consumer-friendly metaverse.
Gesine Marks
Project Team | Communication
Gesine communicates for the ConPolicy Institute and is responsible for its overall public image. She also takes on this role in the PRiME project. She translates the research team's findings for the public and supports the transfer of knowledge.
Prof. Dr. Benedikt Morschheuser
Sub-Project Lead | Metaverse Research
Benedikt heads the Gamification Research Group at FAU. In the project, Benedikt is in charge of the work packages at FAU. A particular focus here is on the development of design knowledge for a privacy-friendly metaverse.
Dr. Jeanine Kirchner-Krath
Project Team | Metaverse Reasearch
Jeanine is a postdoctoral researcher in the Gamification Research Group at FAU. Together with Runjie, Jeanine is responsible for the implementation of FAU's work packages and contributes in particular the perspective of HCI research. She is also a member of the communication working group.
Runjie Xie
Project Team | Metaverse Reasearch
Runjie is a research associate in the Gamification Research Group at FAU. Runjie develops design knowledge for a privacy-friendly metaverse.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Wiebe
Sub-Project Lead | Data Protection Law
Andreas chairs the Department of Civil Law, Competition and Intellectual Property Law, Media and Information Law at the University of Göttingen. He is in charge of the project section for legal analysis, in particular data protection.
Felix Bünning
Project Team | Data Protection Law
Felix is a research assistant and doctoral candidate at the Georg-August University of Göttingen. In the PRiME project, he develops solutions for data protection issues.
Tom Hubert
Project Team | Data Protection Law
Tom is a research assistant and doctoral candidate at the Georg-August University of Göttingen. In the PRiME project, he develops solutions for data protection issues.
Markus Mayer
Project Team | Data Protection Law
Markus is a research assistant and doctoral candidate at the Georg-August University of Göttingen. In the PRiME project, he develops solutions for data protection issues.
Prof. Dr. Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider
Sub-Project Lead | Personal Rights
Louisa is a legal scholar and university lecturer at the University of Bonn. She is in charge of the sub-project for legal analyses, in particular personal rights.
Michael Kern
Project Team | Personal Rights
Michael works as a research assistant at the chair of Prof. Dr. Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider in Bonn, where he is doing his doctorate on issues of privacy protection. Michael conducts research at the University of Bonn on issues of privacy protection in the metaverse.
Thomas Lenz
Project Assistant | Personal Rights
Thomas works as a student assistant at the chair of Prof. Specht-Riemenschneider in Bonn. Thomas supports the Bonn project partners in their work, particularly in terms of public relations.
(Former) student Employees
- Lea Schäfer (Universität Göttingen)
- Johanna Grün (ConPolicy)
- Dominik Moretti (ConPolicy)
- Lisa Schroff (ConPolicy)
