Pinterest takes the next step towards brand safety with TAG certification

June 29, 2021 — Jon Kaplan

Black man wearing a beige shirt and pants with earphones sitting in a chair typing on a computer.

Creating safe environments

At Pinterest we have especially high standards for safety because ultimately, we believe you can’t feel inspired if you don’t first feel safe. We work to deliberately create a positive environment, and have been furthering that commitment through our work with advertising organizations to align with industry expectations.

Today, I’m proud to share that we recently received brand safety certification from the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG), a global certification body that aims to fight criminal activity and protect brand safety in digital advertising.

"Pinterest has demonstrated its commitment to protecting its partners and users by adopting industry best practices."

Mike Zaneis
CEO, TAG

Now, Pinterest is part of a select group of media players who share a dedication to creating positive and safe environments for brands. Thanks to the broad reach of the industry’s largest brand safety certification program, our TAG status extends to APAC, Europe, Latin America and North America.

“By achieving TAG Brand Safety Certified status, Pinterest has demonstrated its commitment to protecting its partners and users by adopting industry best practices against inappropriate ad placement and other brand safety threats,” said Mike Zaneis, CEO of TAG. “TAG is delighted that Pinterest has joined this growing global initiative, and we look forward to working together to further expand the program and create a safer and more trustworthy advertising ecosystem.”

Meeting rigorous standards

In order to achieve TAG Brand Safety Certified status, we worked with third party auditors to validate our practices. The auditor reviewed and confirmed the following:

  1. All of our new and updated digital advertising agreements adhere to TAG's Brand Safety Principles.

  2. 100% of our monetizable transactions are reviewed through the use of inclusion and exclusion lists, as defined in our digital advertising agreements.

  3. Our specific policies and procedures to minimize the risk of ad misplacement are clearly documented. This could include staff, tools and/or technology used to review and flag content as brand safe. It could also include identifying and operationalizing technology and procedures used for the creation of inclusion and exclusion lists to verify content as brand safe.

  4. We have a designated TAG compliance officer, and we attend Brand Safety Certified training annually.

Just getting started

To maintain our accreditation, Pinterest will undergo an annual audit and ensure continued adherence to the TAG requirements. We’ll also continue to implement any new brand safety requirements defined by TAG. 

TAG accreditation is the next, right chapter in Pinterest’s brand safety story. Over the last year, we’ve been more outspoken than ever about our ongoing commitment to consumer and brand safety. Toward the end of 2020 we joined GARM, and earlier this year we published our expanded transparency report. You can also explore our dedicated Brand Safety Hub that that outlines our multi-year efforts to make Pinterest a safer and more inspiring place on the internet.

We're committed to transparency about our policies and progress as we continue to put safety first, for both people and brands on Pinterest. I look forward to sharing more of what we're up to soon.