Brand safety

At Pinterest, we have especially high standards for safety because, ultimately, we believe that you can’t feel inspired if you don’t first feel safe. Our policies are designed to keep Pinterest safe for all users, including brands and advertisers. They govern what we do and don’t allow on Pinterest, and all users must abide by them.

Over the last few years, we’ve made deliberate choices to engineer a more positive place online. For example, Pinterest does not allow harmful misinformation, such as the promotion of false cures for terminal illnesses or anti-vaccination advice. We don’t monetise search terms related to the coronavirus pandemic. We also have taken a stance to not allow political campaign ads. Here are some of the industry-leading policy decisions that we’ve made over the years:


2017
-Launched a health misinformation policy that blocks anti-vaccination content

2018
-Banned political campaign ads
-Began removing QAnon conspiracy content

2019
-Rolled out compassionate search for people seeking mental health support

2020
-Launched authoritative search results for COVID-19


2021
-Teamed up with the National Eating Disorder Association to support body positivity
-Received certification from the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) for our brand safety principles and policies
-Received accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC) for display Pin impressions and display Pin clicks

2022
-Expanded our Community and Advertising Guidelines to prohibit all content and ads with climate misinformation

We believe that ads can play a big role in helping people to create a life that they love, which is why we want ads to be some of the best stuff that people see on Pinterest. We use our policies to determine which ads we allow on Pinterest. When advertisers do appear on Pinterest, they benefit from the positive environment that our policies aim to create.

Our latest research shows that positive online environments have a halo effect on the brands that appear there – from awareness and sentiment, to trust and purchase. 3 in 10 UK Pinners agree that they’re more likely to remember, feel positive about, trust and purchase brands that they see in positive spaces.¹ In a post-COVID world where it matters more than ever where your ads appear, you need tools to control where you show up and where exactly that was.

As we improve our controls, we’re also expanding yours. When it comes to knowing what is suitable for their brands—advertisers know best. So, whether or not you spend with Pinterest, you get access to moderation tools that allow you to set the tone around your brand. For example: if a comment is not relevant to your Pin, you can delete it. In fact, you can turn off comments altogether for your organic content, and we don’t offer the ability to comment on ads. Brands that choose to advertise on the platform have additional controls, such as those listed below:

Placement opt-out:
Brands can tell us which parts of the platform they’d like their ads to appear on, e.g. on the home feed or search.

Learn more

Keyword exclusion:
Brands can apply negative keywords to prevent their ads from appearing in search queries that they don't consider to be suitable to their brand.

Learn more

Expanded targeting opt-out:
Expanded targeting uses signals from your ad to broaden your targeting and reach additional people on Pinterest who may be interested in or searching for relevant ideas. Brands can opt out of expanded targeting and limit the appearance of their ads to only the targeting that they provide—keywords and interests.

Learn more

Pinterest creators have the unique opportunity to support and inspire people with positive and actionable ideas. We introduced the Creator Code to help educate and build a community around inclusive and safe content. Creators are expected to follow the Code to help keep Pinterest safe.

See the Code

One of our company values is to put Pinners first. As the company continues to grow, we’ll keep this focus to ensure that everyone using Pinterest has a positive, useful and inspiring experience. Our Pinner Promise tells people what to expect from us: tools, products and practices that optimise for their safety and well-being. 

Learn more

The safety of our community on Pinterest is made possible by the solidarity of our community. Pinners know that Pinterest is a more positive place on the Internet, and they help us to keep it that way. Pinners can use moderation tools to respond to community engagement as needed. All comments must follow our Community Guidelines. If someone posts a negative or unrelated comment on a Pin saved from your claimed website, there are a few things people on Pinterest can do.

In addition to moderation tools, a user can proactively report content that they find objectionable. A report can be initiated when a user taps on the ‘...’ found at the bottom right-hand corner of a Pin. This reporting mechanism triggers an internal ticket at Pinterest that is logged, triaged and reviewed appropriately. User reports complement our automated efforts to identify and remove policy-violating content. Once a user report is created, we process the report and take action if we find that the content does not follow our guidelines. We rely on a variety of measures, including proactive measures such as machine learning technologies, to prevent, detect and remove content that violates our guidelines. 

We started publishing a biannual transparency report in 2013. Since 2020, we’ve routinely expanded the report to include more information and deeper reporting detail. In our latest report, you’ll find more than 400 distinct data points that provide greater context on our content moderation and enforcement practices, such as the number of policy violations and deactivations. We’re proud of our industry-leading policies and practices and we’re committed to providing greater transparency into how we keep Pinterest safe and inspiring.

Read the report

The most positive places online don’t happen by accident – they happen because of proactive policy and product decisions. Policy is a path to positivity. That’s why we’re proud that nearly 5 in 10 weekly Pinners in the UK say that Pinterest is an online oasis.² We have an industry-leading position on content safety, and we invest heavily in measures such as machine learning technology to maintain it. We believe that for people – and brands – to feel inspired and be inspiring, they first have to feel safe.

Let’s create a more inspired Internet, together.