Pinterest: Difference between revisions
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|Description=Photo sharing website founded in 2009 where users can "pin" various images to their profile and add them to collections. | |Description=Photo sharing website founded in 2009 where users can "pin" various images to their profile and add them to collections. | ||
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'''[[wikipedia:Pinterest|Pinterest]]''' is a photo hosting service and company started by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, and Evan Sharp in December 2009. It was initially intended to function as a digital version of traditional catalogs, | '''[[wikipedia:Pinterest|Pinterest]]''' is a photo-hosting service and company started by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, and Evan Sharp in December 2009. It was initially intended to function as a digital version of traditional catalogs, but it changed to being an image host shortly after.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baribeau |first=Simone |date=23 Oct 2012 |title=The Pinterest Pivot |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3001984/pinterest-pivot |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Fastcompany}}</ref> | ||
==Consumer impact summary== | ==Consumer-impact summary== | ||
*'''User freedom''': Absolute; content is rarely taken down unless mass-reported. | *'''User freedom''': Absolute; content is rarely taken down unless mass-reported. | ||
*'''User privacy''': Questionable; private boards can be accessed by staff. | *'''User privacy''': Questionable; private boards can be accessed by staff. | ||
*'''Business model''': Profits | *'''Business model''': Profits from affiliate links and advertisements. In May 2025, Pinterest's revenue was up 17%.<ref name="sportsdeal">{{Cite web|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/91341737/pinterest-just-signed-its-first-sports-deal-ever-with-the-new-york-liberty|title=Pinterest just signed its first sports deal ever with the New York Liberty|first=Jeff|last=Beer|date=2025-05-29|work=Fast Company|access-date=2025-08-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250531134351/https://www.fastcompany.com/91341737/pinterest-just-signed-its-first-sports-deal-ever-with-the-new-york-liberty|archive-date=2025-05-31|url-status=live}}</ref> | ||
*'''Market control''': Dominant; overrides original sources in image searches.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Orsini |first=Lauren Rae |date=2 Jun 2021 |title=Print-erest unphased by Pinterest call-out |url=http://www.dailydot.com/business/print-erest-printerest-pinterest-response/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Daily Dot}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Giannini |first=Sterin |date=28 Apr 2016 |title=Is Pinterest a Haven for Copyright Violations? |url=https://discover.hubpages.com/technology/Is-Pinterest-a-Haven-for-Copyright-Violations |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Hub Pages}}</ref> Monthly active users in May 2025 was 570 million at its highest.<ref name="sportsdeal" /> | *'''Market control''': Dominant; overrides original sources in image searches.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Orsini |first=Lauren Rae |date=2 Jun 2021 |title=Print-erest unphased by Pinterest call-out |url=http://www.dailydot.com/business/print-erest-printerest-pinterest-response/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Daily Dot}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Giannini |first=Sterin |date=28 Apr 2016 |title=Is Pinterest a Haven for Copyright Violations? |url=https://discover.hubpages.com/technology/Is-Pinterest-a-Haven-for-Copyright-Violations |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Hub Pages}}</ref> Monthly active users in May 2025 was 570 million at its highest.<ref name="sportsdeal" /> | ||
==Incidents== | ==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]]. | 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)=== | ===Training of AI based on user-submitted content (2025)=== | ||
:''Further reading: [[Nonconsensual Scraping]]'' | |||
In March of 2025, Pinterest updated their 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 | 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)=== | ===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 May 23, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 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 | 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 May 23, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 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" /> | ||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||