Editing Pinterest (section)

==Incidents==
This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].

===Training of AI based on user-submitted content (2025)===
In March of 2025, Pinterest updated their [[terms of service]] (TOS)<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Privacy Policy |url=https://policy.pinterest.com/en/privacy-policy-preview |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250314010904/https://policy.pinterest.com/en/privacy-policy-preview |archive-date=14 Mar 2025 |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Pinterest}}</ref> to include a new clause which states:<blockquote>Improve the products and services of our family of companies and offer new features. For example, using information to train, develop and improve our technology such as our machine learning models, regardless of when Pins were posted. This includes, for example, Pinterest’s body type technology, which is trained on images in Pins posted to our Services.</blockquote>The vagueness of this new clause rightfully brings concern,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harrison |first=Maggie |date=Mar 8, 2025 |title=Pinterest Changes User Terms So It Can Train AI on User Data and Photos, Regardless of When They Were Posted |url=https://futurism.com/pinterest-data-photos-train-ai |access-date=Mar 10, 2025 |work=Futurism}}</ref> as Pinterest has been well-known to host stolen content.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Unknown |date=9 Jul 2022 |title=People are stealing my photos what can i do? |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Pinterest/comments/vuns1z/people_are_stealing_my_photos_what_can_i_do/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |via=Reddit}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=u/ShadedWizard |date=25 Nov 2023 |title=HELP: How do I report stolen Pins? |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Pinterest/comments/183gceg/help_how_do_i_report_stolen_pins/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |via=Reddit}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Petrina |date=8 Dec 2024 |title=Dealing with Stolen Pinterest Pins or Blog Content: A Guide for Content Creators |url=https://brandingforsmes.com/dealing-with-stolen-pinterest-pins-or-blog-content-a-guide-for-content-creators/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Branding For Smes}}</ref> This suggests that user-generated works may have been collected and used for AI training purposes without explicit consent. Such data could be used to train Pinterest's own AI models or sold as training data to other companies developing AI technologies. 

===Exploitation of pinned images (circa 2012)===
As content from creators are nonconsensually "pinned" to the platform, since 2012,<ref name=":1" /> if not earlier, Pinterest claims rights inside its TOS<ref name=":2" /><ref>Kalliopi Monoyios (March 19, 2012). "[http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/symbiartic/2012/03/19/pinterests-terms-of-service-word-by-terrifying-word/ Pinterest's Terms of Service, Word by Terrifying Word]". ''Scientific American''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120523164313/http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/symbiartic/2012/03/19/pinterests-terms-of-service-word-by-terrifying-word/ Archived] from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 10 Mar 2025.</ref> to:<blockquote>By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, *modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services.</blockquote>In simpler terms, this means that any content uploaded to Pinterest can be freely used by the platform and its users in any manner. Given the platform's history of hosting content without explicit consent, this raises concerns that creators' works may be overridden in search feeds<ref name=":0" /> and copyrights overridden for unauthorized purposes by other publishers.<ref name=":0" />

===Excessive advertising===
For years, dozens of users have reported excessive advertising on Pinterest <ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=Why every single pin is an ad? |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Pinterest/comments/ub9sq0/why_every_single_pin_is_an_ad/ |website=Reddit}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Increased Amount of Ads on Pinterest? |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Pinterest/comments/18b9vga/increased_amount_of_ads_on_pinterest/ |website=Reddit}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Why in the world does Pinterest have so many ads?[...] |url=https://www.quora.com/Why-in-the-world-does-Pinterest-have-so-many-ads-It-bothers-me-when-I-m-trying-to-look-at-a-recipe-etc-and-all-these-ads-pop-up-Is-there-any-way-to-get-rid-of-those |website=Quora}}</ref>, going as far back as 2015<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015 |title=Has Pinterest gotten much worse since the ads? |url=https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/563260-has-pinterest-gotten-much-worse-since-the-ads/ |website=The Well-Trained Mind Community}}</ref>. Many online posts describe how the excessive ads ruin the user experience and have led to the abandonment of the platform altogether. One user states, "Due to the bombarding of ads on Pinterest, I went from scrolling through pins for hours to scrolling through pins for less than 5 seconds and then closing the apps"<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Increased Amount of Ads on Pinterest? |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Pinterest/comments/18b9vga/increased_amount_of_ads_on_pinterest/ |website=Reddit}}</ref>.

An article on Android Authority describes how a platform for hobbies and crafts turned into a hub for discovering products (often on Amazon), which first began around 2013 and was then ramped up two years later as the platform shifted to a social e-commerce site<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dalul |first=Suzana |date=20 Feb 2020 |title=Pinterest: How a once inspiring social media app was ruined by ads |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/pinterest-ads-1065432/ |website=Android Authority}}</ref>. The platform even introduced a feature called Shoppable Pins, which uses hovering to show items in a picture while linking to external retail sites. These Shoppable Pins are treated as content rather than advertisements, which the article then goes on to say, "This is dishonest and misleading, and makes for an even worse experience than constantly being bombarded by pins from popular brands any time you search for something."