Pinterest removes its “girl” and “teen” pins, too often hijacked by pedophiles

The news spread like wildfire. On Twitter, many netizens reported that the labels ” lass », « teenager ” OR ” lad » had suddenly disappeared from Pinterest. The photo curation site normally allows you to search for images based on keywords, named ” pines “. Users can then pin their findings to create ” Mood boards », types of photo galleries that they make public or not.

Did Pinterest suspend access to these pins to prevent pedophiles from easily finding images of teenage girls? In any case, this is the theory put forward by many tweets. If the information has not been confirmed by the site, the removal of these tags could in fact be linked to the results of a survey published in early March by the American news channel NBC News. The media has demonstrated how the platform’s algorithms allow adults to easily collect images of children.

Sexual moodboards flourish with impunity

The investigation of NBC, published on March 9, had made little noise. However, the facts represented have revealed, with the help of many testimonies, a context of predation and impunity favorable to paedocriminality. The article thus opens with the story of Victoria, 9 years old. Her mother didn’t want her to register on TikTok, for fear that she would meet bad people there. But she had no problem creating a profile on such a platform. harmless compared to Pinterest.

While the girl pinned pictures of baby animals and nail art, the adults discreetly saved pictures of her doing a cartwheel or handstand, which Victoria innocently shared on her profile. These embedded files titled ” young girls ” (Girls), ” Sexy little girls » (sexy babes) or even « guilty pleasures (guilty pleasures), along with hundreds of other images of children. In addition to the flood of sexual comments posted under Victoria’s videos, NBC revealed that of the girl’s 400 followers, at least three of them had posted videos of erect penises on their public page.

A legal blind spot

” It is not against the law to collect harmless images of minors in files of a potentially sexual nature on an individual basis, which means platforms have no legal obligation to act. », recalls the art NBC. However, according to our colleagues, the site’s algorithm would do more than let this type of behavior pass: it would encourage it, exposing its young users to potential pedophiles in the process :

For a month, NBC News set up a Pinterest account and went through hundreds of girls’ Pinterest accounts and their follower pages, many of whom appeared to be men. (Most of the profiles of girls were algorithmically highlighted by Pinterest itself during the report.) The survey showed that the site spontaneously recommends photos and videos of noticeably underage, sometimes very young, girls in large quantities to a user looking for this kind of images. The children are usually seen bending over, doing the splits, sticking out their tongues, and dancing around their rooms while wearing clothing such as pajama shorts, bathing suits, and bodysuits.

NBC, “Men on Pinterest are creating boards of sexually themed images of little girls. The platform makes it easy.” March 9, 2023

Asked by NBC, the company said that several steps will be needed in the near future to better identify and remove the accounts that collect these images. Among the ways mentioned, a tool for reporting profiles whose content(s) ” involve minors and a new method for verifying the age of young users. In fact, while the platform is now R-13-rated, many kids Victoria’s age easily bypass this policy, sometimes even with parental approval. Lack of restraint also fosters impunity for predators, who go relatively under the radar, and benefit from the innocuous brand image that Pinterest returns.

Is the platform performing a major cleanup? Either way, the NBC revelations show the urgency of addressing the role of platforms in the spread of child crime online. A hot topic, as revealed by an edifying investigation by World, published in mid-March, on the online rape of minors. This criminal practice would be booming, and orders for these images would multiply, especially from Southeast Asia. As our colleagues from BFM remind us today in France ” those arrested for viewing these pornographic videos live can be prosecuted for “complicity in rape”. That is to say, they risk as much as the perpetrator of an act of rape: 20 years in prison “. But convictions remain rare.

Contacted by Madmoizelle, Pinterest France has not yet responded to our requests.