Parents' Guide to Pinterest

Pinterest makes it easy to categorize clothes, accessories, art, design ideas, and other items you find interesting. And it's generally a good example of positive social networking, with lots of practical purpose and creativity in the vast majority of Pins. It feels less interactive than Facebook or Twitter—users seem to re-pin more than they comment—and the fact that all the content is user generated means that boards and images can range from kid-friendly to inappropriate. As more teens have started using the app, Pinterest has worked toward making it more teen-friendly by establishing more age restrictions and evaluating content with teen mental health in mind. Profiles for users under 16 default to private, so no one can see their boards except for them, and they can only have followers they've accepted through a unique link. Searches for women's fashion and beauty now allow for a body-type filter that includes a variety of different body types, including disabled bodies. (The same is not true for searches on men's fashion, however.) Also, unlike apps like Instagram and TikTok, Pinterest doesn't allow beauty filters.

Users can create filters to block specific terms in comments that are posted on published Pins, but it's harder to avoid seeing any Pins that involve violence and other elements. While much of the content about sensitive subjects like depression is informative, not exploitative, concerns about what kids might stumble upon arose after a British teen died by suicide in 2017 after searching for items about depression and suicidal quotes and pinning images that involved self-harm. The site tries to limit nudity that would qualify as pornography and some other potentially objectionable material—although it's not always clear exactly how, or how often, those determinations are made. Administrators also reportedly try to prevent items that showcase excessive violence, although the site notes that some may not violate Pinterest's policies—such as images from historical events—but could still make viewers uncomfortable.

Users are told they can report objectionable items. The site also advises them to remember that their home feed will be "full of Pins from things you follow and Pins we picked for you" and says they can unfollow people, boards, or topics if they don't want to see certain items on the homepage—which seems to place a burden of responsibility on users. Teens could easily get sidetracked from an initial search and potentially come across mature content quickly. Pinterest constantly updates users' feed with items that relate to their activity on the site. So, in theory, if teens were to search for war information, for example, they might later see suggestions that contain battle photos or other violent images. That algorithmic capability may be problematic, according to an NBC News investigation that indicated the site was recommending photos and videos of young girls to users who'd sought similar content, which could inadvertently enable pedophiles to access, collect, and sexualize imagery of children. Pinterest has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual exploitation of children, and officials have said the service is adding options to specifically flag content, which currently undergoes an AI- and human-based review, that involves a minor. Pinterest seems to pose less of a risk than some other social media platforms, and the abundance of user-created boards that provide cooking, craft, and other ideas—and the ability to cull visual topic-based lists—make it a great way to brainstorm and keep track of things like gift suggestions (or let families collaborate on ideas together), but kids could still encounter iffy content, so you may want to monitor your teen's time on the site.