Name of service provider: Pinterest

Date of submission: April 12, 2024

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Pinterest is the visual inspiration platform that people around the world, including in the European Union (EU), use to find ideas, shop personalised products, and discover inspiring content. We’ve made deliberate decisions to build a positive place online for people to find inspiration. Hateful or harmful content does not belong on Pinterest, and is contrary to the positive environment we foster. From the next meal they want to make, to clothes they want to buy, and creative ways to update their living room decor, we help users discover, plan and build a life they love.

The Digital Services Act (DSA) creates a uniform legal framework for providers of digital services in the European Union (EU).  To create a safe, predictable, and trustworthy online environment, the DSA aims to create a single set of rules across the EU Member States governing the transparency and accountability obligations of online platforms.

Pinterest shares the European Commission’s commitment to addressing the issue of harmful online content because we want Pinterest to be an inspiring and welcoming place for everyone, and we have been working to comply with all applicable provisions of the DSA since it was adopted in July 2022. Within and beyond the framework of the DSA, Pinterest will continue to work on ways to provide a positive experience, give people more control, and build on our transparency measures to further our goal of creating a safe and positive space online.

This transparency report is Pinterest's second for the DSA and includes data for content, users, and reporters from across the EU member states. Because the DSA entered into force for Pinterest on August 25, 2023 and the regulatory deadline to publish the first transparency report was October 25, 2023, we were able to collect one month of data (from August 25 through September 24, 2023) for our first report. This report covers the rest of 2023, from September 25 through December 31 so that we can establish a twice-yearly reporting schedule. Future reports will cover 6 months of data at a time.

Pinterest’s Terms of Service require users to abide by various guidelines and policies regarding content on Pinterest. These include our Community Guidelines and related policies, which explain what is and isn’t allowed on Pinterest, as well as our Advertising Guidelines and Merchant Guidelines, which explain additional policies that apply to Advertisers and Merchants on our platform. Together, we refer to these as “Guidelines” or our “policies,” and we explain each in more detail below.

At Pinterest, we believe you can't feel inspired if you don't first feel safe. Not everything on the internet is inspiring, so we have rules for what’s acceptable on Pinterest and what isn’t allowed. Pinterest’s Community Guidelines are clear, easy to understand, and designed to support our mission of inspiration. These Community Guidelines are available in multiple languages, including all of the official languages of the EU. They govern what we do and don't allow on Pinterest, and all users must abide by them. In most cases, our Community Guidelines already cover material that is illegal in the EU as well. Our goal is to be a positive and inspiring place on the internet, so our Community Guidelines may also go further and prohibit certain categories of content that, while legal, are not consistent with the positive nature or purpose of our platform. 

Our Community Guidelines prohibit or limit the distribution of content such as:

We work hard to create a positive and safe environment for users. This includes using automated tools, manual review and a hybrid approach that combines elements of both to assess content and deactivate or block violating content. Our Community Guidelines and moderation practices are always evolving to keep up with new behaviours and trends.

We may block, limit the distribution of, or deactivate content and the accounts, individuals and groups that create or spread policy-violating content based on how much harm it poses — more details on this can be found below. In addition to enforcing our Community Guidelines, we are committed to respecting applicable laws of the EU and its member states. When content violates our policies, we take appropriate action against it globally; when we determine that content violates local law but does not otherwise violate Pinterest’s policies, we remove the content locally by blocking it in the country or region at issue. 

Pinterest respects the intellectual property rights of others and we expect people on our platform to do the same; indeed, infringement of intellectual property rights is a violation of our Community Guidelines. It’s our policy to disable content in response to complete and valid claims of infringement and, in appropriate circumstances, to deactivate the accounts of people who repeatedly infringe or are repeatedly charged with infringing copyrights or other intellectual property rights. Our policies with respect to copyright and trademark issues are set out in our Copyright Policy and Trademark Policy, respectively.

Beyond this, rights holders can apply for access to the Content Claiming Portal to claim their content and control how it appears on Pinterest. Once a rights holder uploads a particular image, they can tell us whether or not they want to allow that image to appear on Pinterest. If they choose to block the image, we will remove any matching images that we are able to identify.

In contrast to our enforcement for other Community Guidelines violations, violation of copyright is not obvious without critical information from the rights holders, who know whether any particular use of their content has been licensed or otherwise authorised. Therefore, to enforce our Copyright Policy, we rely on information provided by rights holders.

We have additional rules for merchants and advertisers to set clear expectations about what is and is not acceptable for product Pins and advertisements, called (respectively) our Merchant Guidelines and Advertising Guidelines. These Guidelines include high standards that are for the safety of all audiences who use Pinterest.

Merchants are responsible for making sure they follow all relevant laws, regulations and industry codes when they use our service. When we approve a merchant through our merchant review process, they gain access to Pinterest’s merchant products, such as Catalogues and product Pins, which are subject to our Merchant Guidelines.

Advertisers are likewise responsible for making sure they follow relevant laws, regulations and industry codes when they use our service. Additionally, there are certain categories of advertising that we don't allow, and others that we restrict. Advertisers and merchants are contractually obligated to abide by all of our Guidelines, whether they be the Advertiser or Merchant Guidelines or the Community Guidelines that apply to all users.

When we become aware of a violation of any of our Guidelines, we take appropriate action to keep our users and the community safe — more details on that can be found below. Our highest priority is the protection of our users, employees, partners and the public. We continue to work on improving our Guidelines, products, policies, and technology, in addition to observing requirements under laws and regulations such as the DSA, to make sure Pinterest continues to be an inspiring and safe place for everyone.

Pinterest provides several ways to report content that are conveniently located and easily accessible, regardless of whether or not you have a Pinterest account. This section covers our reporting channels, our criteria for making enforcement decisions, and information about our notices to users and available appeals options.

In-product reporting

Users can report Pinterest policy violations and illegal content directly from the content in-product by clicking the three dots on or next to the content at issue, on both our website and our mobile apps.

Reporting forms

Anyone in the EU--users and non-users alike--can report a violation of applicable laws of the EU and its member states through the European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form. Users can access the form directly from the content they wish to report by clicking the three dots and selecting the "Report for EU local law violation" option. The form will be pre-populated with the user's email address and the URL of the selected content when possible. This form is also accessible through our Help Center, and by navigating directly to https://www.pinterest.com/about/dsa/.

For all reports submitted through the European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form, reporters are asked to provide additional information about the allegedly illegal content, including the reason for the report and the country where they allege the law is being violated. Reporters are also asked to confirm their understanding that they are making a legal report and that they believe their claims are true before submitting the report.

To report an intellectual property violation, rights holders can click the three dots next to the content at issue, where they will find a link to report for Intellectual Property infringement. We also provide standalone, publicly-available reporting forms and dedicated email addresses, as well as our physical address, for submitting intellectual property reports, all of which can be easily located on our Policy site.

Help Center

Users can also always contact us through the Help Center to report content and to ask any questions they may have.

We have a specially trained team and process in place to help ensure reported content is promptly reviewed and, if appropriate, locally blocked or globally actioned. Content that is illegal under the law of the EU or its member states in most cases also violates our Community Guidelines, which apply globally. Our review team first reviews content reported through our European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form for violations of our Community Guidelines, and may deactivate content globally on that basis. If the content is not deactivated globally, the content is reviewed for violations of the reported EU law. If we determine that the reported content violates local law but not our Community Guidelines, we block the content in the appropriate member state or, if appropriate, across the EU.

We provide notice of content moderation decisions, including appeals decisions, to impacted users and individuals who report content. This notice may be delivered through the following channels:

Following notice of content moderation or report updates, impacted users and reporters can appeal our enforcement decisions. Appeals are how reporters and users affected by content moderation actions can tell us if they think we made an enforcement error. Appeals can be submitted in-product via our Reports and Violations Center, by clicking the one-click appeal link in an enforcement notice email that we send out, or via the Help Center, which is always available. Appeals availability may vary for some product features or in some localities; in addition, some users may have additional appeal options or redress mechanisms under their local law.

Reports and Violations Center

If the impacted user or reporter believes we've mistakenly taken action on their content or account or made a mistake in processing their report, they can appeal the decision in the Reports and Violations Center within six months. The “Your account” tab includes updates on actions we've taken to enforce our policies or local law on their account or content they've posted. The “Your reports” tab includes updates on content that they've reported on Pinterest. We may suspend the processing of appeals from people who frequently submit unfounded or abusive appeals, and we may limit the number of times that a particular decision can be appealed.

Email

If we send an email to communicate an enforcement action, we typically provide an appeal link within the email. If an appeal is submitted via the link in an email, the reporter and affected user may receive updates via email and/or via the Reports and Violations Center.

Help Center

Alternatively, users and reporters can contact us through our Help Center to appeal a decision if they believe we’ve made an enforcement error. Once an appeal has been filed, we'll send an email to the reporter or affected user to let them know the outcome. They will still also be able to see any updates to their content and whether the appeal was successful in the Reports and Violations Center.

We review appeal requests and update our enforcement decisions if we determine that we made a mistake, or in some cases to give people another chance to abide by our policies. Appeal decisions are made under the supervision of appropriately qualified staff, and not solely on the basis of automated means. Appeals will have one of the following results in the data tables below:

Reported and proactively detected content

As described above, anyone can report content they think violates our policies or local law. If we confirm a violation of our policies or an apparent violation of local law, we take appropriate action.

In addition, content that may violate our guidelines can also be found via proactive methods. The mechanisms used to detect different potential violations may vary based on the state of available technology, the volume of violative content and other factors such as the complexity of evaluation. We continue to iterate and evolve our tools and expect ongoing advancements as our teams continue to strive to maintain a positive and safe environment.

How we action content

We enforce our policies through automated tools, manual review and hybrid approaches that combine elements of both. These systems may use logic-based rules as well as machine learning. Where appropriate, we may take into account information provided by trusted third parties and industry tools.

More about automated actions: Our automated tools use a combination of signals to identify and take action against content identified as potentially violating our policies. For example, our machine learning models assign scores to content added to our platform. Our automated tools can then use those scores to perform appropriate enforcement actions.

More about manual actions: We manually act on many Pins through our human review process. Pins actioned through this process may include those identified internally, those reported to us by trusted third parties, and those flagged to us via our reporting flows.

More about hybrid actions: Sometimes, actions combine elements of manual and automated enforcement. Hybrid actions include those where a team member determines that a Pin violates policy, and automated systems help expand that decision to enforce against machine-identified matching Pins. Depending on the volume of matching Pins, a hybrid action may result in a number of additional Pins actioned or none at all.

Because the same piece of content can be actioned multiple times (for instance, if an account is deactivated for policy violations, reactivated due to an appeal, and subsequently deactivated again due to further policy violations), the number of actions noted in the tables below is not equal to the number of items actioned.

Training and evaluating machine learning models for automated procedures in content moderation

We use the latest modelling techniques and continuously iterate on these models. By adding new data and exploring new technical breakthroughs, we maintain or improve their performance over time to effectively address violative content.

To control the quality of a machine learning model, we evaluate the performance of that model through offline analysis and online experiments before launching. We look at a number of metrics to review the effectiveness of our models, both prior to and subsequent to launch of the model. We regularly review data and other relevant information to continually identify areas for improvement that our teams investigate and address as appropriate.

We use a variety of metrics to measure the performance of our automation. One metric that may be used as a reasonable indication of automation performance is shared below: the rate at which actions performed by our automated systems during the reporting period were subsequently reversed. If an action has been reversed, it is a possible indication that the action was performed in error. It's important to keep in mind, however, that reversals may also be performed in error on occasion—that's why we consider the reversal rate to represent a possible error rate.

Deactivations

_{1. Any policies not included in this chart are not applicable because there were no policy violations of this type, thus no possible error rate to calculate.}

_{2. Higher reversal rates can be found in this area because our policy is to first err on the side of deactivation when child safety is at issue, and to address appeals as appropriate.} 

Limited distribution

Blocked in territory

Ads and Merchant

Much of the content on Pinterest has been saved repeatedly, meaning that the same image may appear in multiple Pins. Our hybrid systems involve actioning multiple pieces of content that share a matching image signature.

Deactivations

_{3. Only a small number of restrictions were applied to image signatures posted by EU Member State users' for these policies during the reporting period. Because of this, a small number of reversals—sometimes as few as just 2 reversals out of 3 total actions—resulted in the large possible error rate disclosed here.} 

Limited distribution

Assessing reports can be very complex because it requires both an understanding of context and specific content moderation expertise. As such, we’ve structured our teams and processes to help ensure that we are making accurate decisions when it comes to reviewing reported content.

We continually work on improving our practices and policies in addition to observation of the DSA requirements in order to make sure Pinterest continues to be an inspiring and safe place for everyone.

Team

Our team consists of specialists trained in Pinterest’s Guidelines and specialists trained to review content against laws of the EU and its member states. In the event of complex reports, team members can escalate any questions to leads of our Trust & Safety Operations team, who may in turn consult with specialists within and outside the company trained in laws of the EU and its member states. 

Pinterest is primarily a visual platform, nevertheless every member of our review team speaks at least one language of a member state of the EU, and we have external resources available to assist with any language not listed in the table below. See below for a detailed breakdown of how many review team members speak the following EU member state official languages:

Training & support

We hire individuals with diverse professional experience and educational backgrounds. Review specialists go through robust training at onboarding, followed by regular ongoing and ad hoc training. Specialists also have access to Pinterest’s self-guided internal training portal. When there are updates to policies, additional training is provided.

Our systems and processes are set up to provide ongoing support to our specialists. In order to help ensure that we consistently make accurate decisions on complex issues, specialists can always ask questions to their team leads or escalate more complex requests to other relevant experts, such as the Policy or Legal team, as appropriate. We send out timely updates regarding current events or changes in our Guidelines so that team members have up-to-date information on continuously evolving historical and cultural context.

Every day, millions of people all over the world come to Pinterest to create, discover and save new ideas that are shared in Pins. To understand how we approach content moderation, it’s helpful to differentiate between two types of Pins: organic Pins and ads. Our Community Guidelines apply to both.

Organic Pins include all Pins created and saved on Pinterest that are not promoted as ads. This includes product Pins that are not being promoted as ads. On top of our Community Guidelines, we have additional requirements for merchants and product Pins — for instance, we require that the Pin image and description must accurately represent the product.

When we become aware of a violation of our Guidelines, we take appropriate action to keep our users and the community safe. That action may consist of:

We determine whether content should be removed or limited in distribution based on a number of factors, including case-by-case context. Depending on the context, we may allow content to remain on Pinterest but limit its distribution so that people don’t come across it accidentally. For example, we may limit distribution of content where the context is acceptable (such as condemnation or education).

Note that when we deactivate a board or an entire user account, the Pins saved to that board or user account are also deactivated. To avoid double-counting deactivations, our count of Pin deactivations does not include those from board or user accounts that were deactivated. The same is true for limiting distribution and blocking in a territory.

Much of the content on Pinterest has been saved repeatedly, meaning that the same image may appear in multiple Pins. Also, because the same Pin can be actioned multiple times, the number of actions noted in the tables below is not equal to the number of Pins actioned.

Deactivated

Scope of data: EU Member State users' Pins

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{4. Rights holders can select "remove all" or "remove all but mine" options in the Copyright Infringement Notification form, asking Pinterest to remove all copies of the image identified in their request. Identical copies of the image file on the platform at the time the report is processed are removed by this function; they are classed here as “reported” removals because the removal is based on a takedown notice from the rights holder.}

_{5. Anyone who owns a copyright to content can apply for access to the Content Claiming Portal to claim their content and control how it appears on Pinterest. Once a rights holder uploads a particular image, they can tell us whether they want to allow that image to appear on Pinterest. If they choose to block the image, we will remove any matching images that we are able to identify, and continue to do so going forward; we class those removals here as “proactive” because the rights holder did not identify or report the removed Pins. Likewise, there is no associated “report” to count in our data because the rights holder simply provided an image file; they did not identify or report any Pins as violating their rights. Indeed, rights holders may upload images to the Content Claiming Portal that have no matching Pins on Pinterest.}

Limited distribution

Scope of data: EU Member State users' Pins

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{6. 38 of these Pins were originally, incorrectly, identified as Child Safety violations by a combination of human and hybrid review. That erroneous labelling was subsequently corrected, and the 38 Pins are instead captured properly in the Adult Content category here.}

_{7. All content identified as violating our Child Safety policy is deactivated globally, so the limited distribution category does not apply.}

_{8. All content identified as violating our Copyright or Trademark policies, or through our Content Claiming portal, is deactivated globally, and so the limited distribution category does not apply.}

Blocked in territory

Scope of data: EU Member State users' Pins

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

All Pins in the table below were actioned manually, except where noted otherwise. For the enforcement actions reported, we've included if the Pin was identified proactively or through reports.

_{9. Instead of providing URLs of content located on Pinterest, certain government agencies in the Republic of Korea sometimes provide Pinterest with hash IDs of videos or images that have been identified as illegal under the Telecommunications Business Act. In these cases we use automated tools to proactively search for and deactivate Pins that match those hash IDs; these actions are subsequently reviewed by trained specialists.}

Muted

Scope of data: EU Member State users' Pins

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Pinterest works with a third-party partner to proactively and automatically identify audio that matches a copyright file provided by a rights holder to the third-party partner. When our third-party partner matches the digital signature of an audio file on Pinterest with a file in their library, the audio on the Pin is muted automatically. 

Impacted user appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State users' actioned Pins

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{10. Unlike non-IP appeals, copyright disputes cannot typically be resolved by a Pinterest agent comparing the content against Pinterest’s policy or the law. Instead, users appealing a copyright removal must provide several mandated pieces of information. When an appeal does not contain sufficient information to allow Pinterest to grant the appeal, we will correspond with the appellant to seek the missing information. If at any time the appellant can submit a complete and valid appeal, Pinterest will take appropriate action to remedy the situation; in the meantime, we classify the pending appeal as “waiting.”}

Reporter appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State users' actioned Pins

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

When users find Pins they like or want to come back to, they can save them to boards that they’ve created. Over time, our users have created billions of boards.

When we become aware of a violation of our Guidelines, we take appropriate action to keep our users and the community safe. That action may consist of:

Note that when we deactivate an entire account, that user’s boards are also deactivated. To avoid double-counting deactivations, our count of board deactivations does not include those from user accounts that were deactivated. The same is true for limiting distribution and blocking in a territory.

Because the same board can be actioned multiple times, the number of actions noted in the tables below is not equal to the number of boards actioned.

Deactivated

Scope of data: EU Member State users' boards

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{11. 2 boards were incorrectly determined to be spam and deactivated. These boards have since been reactivated.}

Limited distribution

Scope of data: EU Member State users' boards

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{7. All content identified as violating our Child Safety policy is deactivated globally, so the limited distribution category does not apply.}

Blocked in territory

Scope of data: EU Member State users' boards

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

No boards were blocked in territory during the reporting period.

Impacted user appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State users' actioned boards

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Reporter appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State users' actioned boards

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Think of “accounts” on Pinterest as “profiles” or, most often, individual users. If someone saves Pins and creates boards, that content becomes associated with their account – be it an individual user account or an account for a business, advertiser, merchant or creator. Boards and Pins can be private, shared with a limited number of other accounts, or visible to the public.

Any account, regardless of privacy settings, may be deactivated for violating our policies. When an account is deactivated, all of its Pins and boards are also deactivated. That means that if you search for them on Pinterest or click on an old link to their profile, that profile won’t show up anymore. Their Pins won’t appear anywhere on Pinterest. And the deactivated user won’t be able to access their own Pins or boards, either.

Because the same account can be actioned multiple times, the number of actions noted in the tables below may not equal the number of accounts actioned.

Deactivated

Scope of data: EU Member State users' accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{12. If a user indicates that they are under the minimum age in their user profile, the user’s account is deactivated automatically.}

_{13. If a parent notifies us that an account belongs to their child under the minimum allowable age, we deactivate the minor’s account.}

Limited distribution

Scope of data: EU Member State users' accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{7. All content identified as violating our Child Safety policy is deactivated globally, so the limited distribution category does not apply.}

Blocked in territory

Scope of data: EU Member State users' accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

The account in the table below was actioned manually. For the enforcement actions reported, we've included if the account was identified proactively or through reports.

Corrections period for copyright violations

Scope of data: EU Member State users' accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

When a user has received multiple complaints about certain intellectual property violations, we restrict the ability for the user to post and save content for 14 days so that they can audit their account and remove any further instances of infringement. This temporary restriction is applied manually and automatically lifts after the 14 day period; it acts as a final warning after which any further unrefuted claims of infringement on their account will result in account termination.

Impacted user appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State users' actioned accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{14. We work with a trusted third party partner to process appeals from users terminated for being underage. Most of these appeals are still in the waiting stage because the user has not completed the identification verification process and our partner was not able to proceed with their appeal.} 

Reporter appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State users' actioned accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Comments are subject to the same policies as other content, and as with Pins, when we become aware of a comment that violates our Guidelines, we deactivate or limit the distribution of the comment. Due to the functionality of our tools, we may deactivate content in cases of local law violations rather than blocking in a specific territory.

Because the same comment can be actioned multiple times, the number of actions noted in the tables below may not be equal to the number of comments actioned.

Deactivated

Scope of data: EU Member State users' comments

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Limited distribution

Scope of data: EU Member State users' comments

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{7. All content identified as violating our Child Safety policy is deactivated globally, so the limited distribution category does not apply.}

Impacted user appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State users' actioned comments

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Reporter appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State users' actioned comments¹⁵

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{15. Due to an error, the usual mechanism for submitting reporter appeals for comments was not available until March 2024. The error has since been fixed. During this time, reporters could contact Pinterest regarding the enforcement through other contact channels, including the Help Center. It appears that only a small number of users may have been affected by this error, and data on appeals via this mechanism will be available in future reports.}

Ads are Pins that businesses pay to promote. Ad policies are enforced differently than organic content.

We believe promoted content can play a big role in helping people create a life they love, which is why we want ads to add value to the experience on Pinterest. We rely on a variety of measures including machine learning technologies and human review to prevent, detect, and remove ads that violate our Guidelines. To that end, our team manually reviews some ads — including ads from new advertisers or advertisers with prior policy violations — before allowing them to be shown to Pinners. Other ads are reviewed automatically; for example, our systems may automatically review and approve an ad if it’s submitted by an advertiser with a history of policy compliance. Like organic Pins, ads and advertisers can also be reported for violation of our Guidelines. 

When we become aware of a violation of our Advertising Guidelines, we’ll take action: 

Actions taken

Scope of data: EU Member State advertisers' ads

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Grounds for restriction

Scope of data: EU Member State advertisers' ads

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{16. The data listed in this table is also included in the "Actions taken" table above; however, because a single piece of content can be actioned for multiple grounds for restriction, the total number of times a restriction was applied may not equal the total number of actions taken.}

Impacted user appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State advertisers' actioned ads

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Reporter appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State advertisers' actioned ads¹⁷

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{17. Due to an error, the usual mechanism for submitting reporter appeals for Ads was not available until March 2024. The error has since been fixed. During this time, reporters could contact Pinterest regarding the enforcement through other contact channels, including the Help Center. It appears that only a small number of users may have been affected by this error, and data on appeals via this mechanism will be available in future reports.}

Action taken

Scope of data: EU Member State advertisers' accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Grounds for restriction

Scope of data: EU Member State advertisers' accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{16. The data listed in this table is also included in the "Actions taken" table above; however, because a single piece of content can be actioned for multiple grounds for restriction, the total number of times a restriction was applied may not equal the total number of actions taken.}

Impacted user appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State advertisers' actioned accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Reporter appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State advertisers' actioned accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

We believe that when people find great products from trusted merchants, it can empower them to do things they care about. When we approve a merchant, they gain access to Pinterest’s merchant products, such as Catalogues and product Pins, which are subject to our Merchant Guidelines in addition to our Community Guidelines.

When we become aware of a violation of our Merchant Guidelines, we’ll take action: 

Actions taken

Scope of data: EU Member State merchants' accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Grounds for restriction

Scope of data: EU Member State merchants' accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{16. The data listed in this table is also included in the "Actions taken" table above; however, because a single piece of content can be actioned for multiple grounds for restriction, the total number of times a restriction was applied may not equal the total number of actions taken.}

Impacted user appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State merchants' actioned accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Reporter appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State merchants' actioned accounts

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

We may block links that lead to content or are associated with content that may violate our policies. If someone on Pinterest has verified that they own a domain that we block, we provide that person with notice and a chance to appeal.

Domain blocks 

Scope of data: EU Member State users' domains

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Domain block appeals 

Scope of data: Appeals relating to EU Member State users' actioned domains

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

We review appeals through a few different channels, depending on how the appeal was submitted to us (eg, via our Reports and Violations Center, the appeal link in an enforcement notice email, or the Help Center). The below data represents the median turnaround time for all content and account types and review channels in seconds.

Scope of data: Appeals submitted by EU member state users

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

_{18. In our DSA Transparency Report covering August 25 - September 24, 2023, we incorrectly reported the turnaround time for impacted user appeals for Civic Participation Misinformation. We stated that the turnaround time was NA, but it was in fact 10.06 hours.}

_{19. Copyright appeals are different from appeals for other policies because they're conducted via email, and often require a back-and-forth exchange with the appellant, as it's common for an initial copyright appeal to not include all of the information required to process the appeal. The median turnaround time reflected here includes the life of the appeal, from the initial communication from the appellant to the resolution of the appeal.}

If a reporter frequently submits manifestly unfounded reports or appeals, or if a user frequently posts manifestly illegal content, we warn the individual that continuation of the behaviour will result in suspension of their ability to use the abused systems. If, following this warning, the individual continues to abuse the systems, Pinterest will suspend for a reasonable period of time their ability to use the abused systems.

Scope of data: Suspensions of EU member state users and reporters under systems abuse policies

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

We also inform the user and reporter of their opportunity to seek further review by a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body. For the reporting period, 0 people asked us to settle disputes out of court.

This section provides insight into the volume of requests for deactivation or user data received from law enforcement and government agencies from September 25, 2023 through December 31, 2023.

We received no government removal orders from member states of the EU during the reporting period.

User data requests may include law enforcement requests, such as emergency disclosure requests, and requests issued pursuant to local law.

Scope of data: Requests for user data from EU Member State Governments 

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Median time to respond: 121,445 seconds

In the reporting period September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023, we received a total of 2,153 reports through our European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form alleging that certain content was illegal according to laws of the EU and/or its member states. 

Because content can be illegal in multiple member states of the EU, total reports by country may not be equal to the total reports received. In situations where multiple pieces of content are included in a single report, each individual piece of content is counted as a separate report.

The data shown below is based on the information provided by the person or complaints body lodging the report.

Incoming reports  

Scope of data: Reports from Pinterest’s European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

All reports submitted through the European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form and included in the tables below were reviewed manually.

Actioned on the basis of Pinterest Guidelines

Scope of data: Reports from Pinterest’s European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

No violation found

Scope of data: Reports from Pinterest’s European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Blocked in territory due to local law violation

Scope of data: Reports from Pinterest’s European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Not available for moderation

The content in the table below was either deleted by the user who created it or already deactivated by the time of review. Because of this, we were not able to review it or take any enforcement actions.

Scope of data: Reports from Pinterest’s European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Median time to review European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form report

Scope of data: Reports from Pinterest’s European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Scope of data: Appeals relating to actioned reports from Pinterest’s European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Scope of data: Appeals relating to actioned reports from Pinterest’s European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Median time to review European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form report appeals

Scope of data: Appeals relating to actioned reports from Pinterest’s European Union Illegal Content Reporting Form

Reporting period: September 25, 2023 - December 31, 2023

As trusted flaggers have not yet been designated by the Digital Services Coordinators, we did not receive any trusted flagger reports in the reporting period.

Average Monthly Active Users for Each Member State

Every 6 months, we publish information on the average monthly active users (“MAU”) on Pinterest in the EU, as required by Article 24(2) of the DSA, available here.

Under Article 42(3), we are further required to publish a breakdown of the average monthly users for each Member State in this Report, which we include below. The breakdown per Member State for Pinterest below is calculated as an average of month-end MAU figures over a 6-month period, ending 31 December 2023 (i.e., 1 July 2023 - 31 December 2023). For this period, there were a total of approximately 79.1 million average monthly active users on Pinterest in the EU.²⁰

For Pinterest, we define a monthly active user as an authenticated Pinterest user who visits our website, opens our mobile application or interacts with Pinterest through one of our browser or site extensions at least once during the 30-day period ending on the date of measurement. Unless otherwise indicated, we present MAUs based on the number of MAUs measured on the last day of each month of the current period.

_{20. The monthly active user information previously published in Pinterest’s October 24, 2023 Report included Russia, Turkey, and other countries in Europe that are not EU Member States. For purposes of this report, and going forward, we will exclude these countries.}

Notes: 

1. This information on the use of Pinterest in the EU has been prepared solely for compliance with Articles 24(2) and 42(3) of the DSA. This information differs in certain key respects (such as geographic scope and time period covered) from user metrics reported in other contexts, including, for example, periodic reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities, and should not be used for other purposes. 

2. While these numbers are based on what we believe to be reasonable estimates of our user base for the applicable period of measurement, there are inherent challenges in measuring usage of our services across large online and mobile populations across the world. In addition, we are regularly seeking to improve our estimates of our user base, and such estimates may change due to improvements or changes in technology or our methodology, as well as due to regulatory developments and stakeholder expectations.

Our highest priority is keeping our users, employees, and partners safe. We continue to invest heavily in measures to take action on violative content, but our work is not done. The ongoing improvement of our Guidelines, reporting capabilities and policies is a big priority to make sure Pinterest continues to be a safe and positive place for everyone.