Protecting teens’ personal space and safety on Pinterest

Personal space matters, especially when you’re young. For teens, maintaining their personal space means having a safe place to grow, develop and figure out who they are. 

Teens have told us that they come to Pinterest to plan and manifest their futures without the fear of being judged. We believe it is important to protect this experience on the platform. That includes safety, of course, because it’s impossible to feel inspired if you don’t feel safe.

As we continue to focus on protecting teens’ personal space, safety and emotional wellbeing, we want to share what you can expect from us now and in the near future.

Private by default

Teen accounts under the age of 16¹ on Pinterest are private. We believe strangers should not be able to see teens’ profiles and invade their personal space, which means their Pinterest accounts won’t be discoverable by others. 

No contact without consent

Currently, boards and Pins for teens under 16 are not visible or accessible to anyone but the user. We know this isn’t ideal for younger people who use Pinterest to collaborate with their friends and family, but we don’t want anyone contacting them without their permission. Coming soon, we will re-introduce the ability for teens to share inspiration with the people they know as long as they give them permission. 

Parental support

Also coming soon, we’ll offer more options for parents and guardians who want to support teens under 18 online. For example, parents will have the ability to require a passcode for their teen to change certain account settings. Additional information on how to change permissions can be found on our Teen Safety Hub and Help Center. 

Age verification

Pinterest requires a date of birth for new and existing accounts, no matter what age. We’re also expanding our age verification process. For example, by the end of April 2023, if someone who previously entered their age as under 18 attempts to edit their date of birth on the Pinterest app, we will require them to send additional information to our third party partner to confirm its legitimacy.

Supporting mental health

We want to do more than make Pinterest safer for teens, we also want to support teen mental health. A recent study we conducted with UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center suggests 10 minutes a day looking at any inspiring content could help young people guard against stress and toxicity.

No filters on beauty

Beauty filters and changing appearance every time people post online can change the way they think about themselves. We’ve taken a stand and don’t have those kinds of filters on Pinterest. For example, our Virtual Try on tool is a compelling way to play with eye makeup and lipstick colors, but it won’t alter the user’s face because they look great just the way they are.

No body shaming

Pinterest has unique policies that don’t allow people to body shame on the platform, and those policies extend to brands. For example, weight loss ads have been particularly harmful to emotional wellbeing, and we don’t allow them.

“Pinterest is my favorite platform for multiple reasons – I always describe it as social media without all of the noise. I love that Pinterest prioritizes positivity and inclusivity on the platform. You can really feel the difference as you scroll and interact with users.” - Jordana Bistany, Gen Z creator on Pinterest and founder of wellness and beauty blog, Radiantly Nourished

Our mission is to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love, and it is our guiding light in how we have created Pinterest, developed our products, and shaped our policies. As part of this on-going work, we’ll continue to focus on ways that we can keep teens safe.

¹If the age of consent in a respective country is 16 or older, these new features for 13-15 year olds will not apply. That’s because people under 16 are ineligible to have a Pinterest account in those countries.