Pinterest Makes Drastic Changes to Privacy Policies

In an effort to make the site a more secure place to socially network, Pinterest recently implemented several changes to its privacy and security policies. These changes will seem very familiar to account holders because they are very similar to Facebook’s current privacy and security policies.

First off, both of the major changes are initiated by clicking on a red flag that is present on every user’s account. One change that has been made is how users, or “pinners” report site abusers. Prior to this change, then only way a pinner could do this was to comment on a certain pin in the “comments” section below it. With the new policy, pinners have a choice of report a single pin, or reporting an entire account, and can choose the reason why they’re reporting the abuse by clicking on categories such as: spam, pornography, hate speech, or self-harm. Once a pin or account has been reported, it is sent to Pinterest’s community team who reviews the pin or account and determines if it violates the site’s terms; if it does, the pin or the account will be taken down.

Pinners can also block users from their accounts, and they don’t have to give a reason why. Once this occurs, all communication between the two accounts stops, and while the blocked account holder isn’t given any notification that they’ve been blocked, it will become obvious the next time they attempt to “follow” the user who blocked them or pin any of their pins. Any pin boards that were being followed by the blocked user are taken down, as well as any comments that were made. The blocked user will still be able to see the boards of the person who blocked them, but they won’t be able to comment on or re-pin any of them to their own board(s). The good news is that blocking someone doesn’t have to be permanent; to unblock someone, the account holder simply has to go to the blocked user’s profile and click on the “Unblock” button in the center of the profile.

While these changes aim to make Pinterest a slightly more private and safer site for users, it won’t take away every one of the account holders who try to spoil the fun of browsing the site.

View Pinterest privacy policies at http://pinterest.com/about/privacy/.