Our Commitment to Election Integrity and Civic Engagement

Our mission is to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love. On Pinterest, you can be inspired by what other people create, discover something new that brings you joy, or learn something useful to try in your day-to-day life. While most people don’t visit Pinterest with politics in mind, our platform can be a place to find ideas about civic engagement.

Earlier this year, we shared our initiatives on civic engagement, including our work with the Census Bureau on the 2020 U.S. Census. Now, as we head into the U.S. elections, we’re taking further steps to strengthen our commitment to sharing reliable information on where and how to vote, tackling false and misleading content that could interfere with the election, and encouraging and supporting employees to participate in civic engagement as they’d like.

Connecting voters to reliable resources

Now, when people search on Pinterest for topics like how to vote or presidential candidates, we’ll show a banner that leads to Vote.org, a non-partisan resource where you can register to vote, check registration status, get an absentee ballot, and more.

Now, when people on Pinterest search on Pinterest for topics like “how to vote” or presidential candidates, we’ll show a banner that leads to vote.org, a non-partisan resource to learn where and how to vote.  

Pinners will also have access to more voting resources in the Today tab, a source of daily inspiration with curated topics and trending ideas like how to organize a ballot research party or how to engage kids on civic topics. 

Encouraging responsible civic engagement

As we get closer to Election Day, we know public discourse will grow louder. We want Pinterest to remain a place for inspiration and positivity. That’s why, as we near November, we’ll limit recommendations about election-related content (like election memes or slogans) in places like the home feed and notifications. We'll also turn off search autocomplete and search guides for specific election-related terms. 

One important piece of our platform that will remain: You will never see political campaign ads on Pinterest. Since 2018, we have not accepted ads for the selection or defeat of political candidates running for public office; political parties or action committees; political issues with the intent to influence an election; or legislation, including referendums or ballot initiatives. 

Additionally, we will not monetize elections-related content. That means we won’t show ads when you search for common election-related search terms like presidential or vice-presidential candidate names, “polling place,” and “vote.” We believe that’s a better and more inspiring experience for everyone. 

Curbing the spread of misinformation

We’re committed to combating misinformation on Pinterest — and in this election season, that commitment is stronger than ever. Our community guidelines prohibit false or misleading content that impedes an election’s integrity or an individual's or group's civic participation, such as registering to vote, voting, or being counted in a census. There are no exceptions to this rule — including for public figures. While we’ve already had this policy in place, ahead of the election we’ve expanded on our guidelines to be even more transparent about what is or is not allowed on our platform. We also make it easy for anyone to report civic misinformation.

Fighting misinformation is complex and always evolving. It takes an entire ecosystem to support the effort, which is why we work with others in the industry as well as third party experts and organizations, like Graphika, a leader in network analysis. This collaboration supports the integrity of our platform as we hold ourselves accountable to our policies ahead of the elections.

Supporting our employees' civic engagement

We're also turning our commitment to responsible civic engagement inward toward our own team. Pinterest is offering all employees eight hours of paid time off, the equivalent of a full work day, for whichever type of civic engagement they prefer — like going to vote or serving as a poll worker. 

We believe participating in the democratic process can be inspiring, and we want Pinterest to be a place where people can find credible information that inspires them to participate fully in their communities.