Pinterest

visual discovery · live · since 2010

People search for images and short videos, save them to boards, and use them to collect ideas and find products to buy.

how dependent?

  1. 07OperatorIEPinterest Europe Ltd.
  2. OwnerUSPinterest, Inc.
  3. ProtocolUSPinterest, Inc.
  4. Shared services–None
  5. CodeUSPinterest, Inc.
  6. Verification?Not established
  7. 06ModelsUSPinterest, Inc.
  8. 05DataUSPinterest Europe Ltd. and Pinterest, Inc.
  9. 04ServersUSAmazon Web Services
  10. EdgeUSFastlyUSAkamai
  11. 03–01Belowcompute, networks and resources are not recorded per app

Every layer above links to what it rests on. The figure counts the EU, the EEA, Switzerland and the UK as European, as the landscape does.

How it is run

nine questions
ArchitectureWho holds your account and posts?

One company

open protocol: no

move your account and keep your followers: no

hub: Pinterest, Inc.

Pins and boards live only on Pinterest's own proprietary service, and the terms forbid scraping or other unauthorised access to its data. No way to move an account and its followers to another provider is offered. A data download does not count here.

  • Pinterest terms of serviceyou agree not to scrape, collect, search, copy or otherwise access data or content from Pinterest in unauthorized waysread 28 Sep 2026
Business modelWho pays, and for what?

Targeted ads

The 10-K says substantially all revenue comes from ads delivered on the website and apps, and names no other revenue source. For EEA users, ads are chosen on information from their Pinterest activity on the basis of legitimate interests; sharing their data with partners for ads off Pinterest is switched off in the EU.

OrganisationWhat kind of organisation runs it?

Listed company

control: Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE); co-founders Ben Silbermann (35.3% of the votes) and Paul Sciarra (31.2%) together hold about two-thirds through 20-vote Class B shares; neither has a majority alone

Class B shares carry 20 votes each against one for Class A, and Class B holders held about 73.2% of the votes at the end of 2025. The percentages per holder are from the 2026 proxy statement, as of 27 March 2026; Silbermann is non-executive chair. Class B shares generally convert to Class A on transfer.

FeedWho decides what you see?

Ranked, with a non-profiled option

The home feed mixes Pins from followed boards and creators with suggested Pins, ranked by Pinterest's models. Users in the EU can switch off 'Inferred signals about you', which stops Pins they clicked, demographics and search history being used to personalise recommendations. Pinterest's DSA risk report presents this as the opt-out from personalised organic recommendations; whether any personalisation remains is not disclosed.

ModerationWho moderates?

The operator

Pinterest enforces its Community Guidelines through user reports and proactive detection, with automated, manual and hybrid review by in-house moderators and outside vendors. The report describes no moderation role for users beyond reporting.

AI trainingDoes your content train AI?

Trains its own AI, with an opt-out

a setting or form to opt out: yes

Pinterest trains its own image model, Pinterest Canvas, on about 500 million rows of public Pins and metadata; adults' content, in the EU too, is used unless they untick 'Use your data to train Pinterest Canvas', and under-18s are excluded. The privacy policy also lets EEA users object where generative AI features rest on legitimate interests. No licensing of user content to third parties for AI training was found in the 10-K, terms or privacy policy.

IdentityMust you prove who you are?

No ID needed

verification: not established

Read off the verification layer, where its sources are.

Open sourceIs the code open?

Closed source

licence: proprietary

Read off the code layer, where its sources are.

SizeHow big is it?

87.5M a month in the EU

counted: average monthly active recipients in the EU, as the DSA requires them

period: Jan–Jun 2026

Average monthly active users in the EU under DSA Art. 24(2). Pinterest counts only authenticated (logged-in) users who visit the site, open the app or use a browser extension such as the Save button.

What each layer rests on

checked 25 Sep 2026
07OperatorWho serves the app?

Pinterest Europe Ltd. · Ireland

Dublin, CRO 536944. Anyone living outside the US contracts with it, and it is the DSA main establishment. Designated a very large online platform on 25 April 2023; 87.5 million average monthly active recipients in the EU, January to June 2026. In EU app stores the apps are still published by the US parent.

07OwnerWho owns the operator, where someone else does?

Pinterest, Inc. · United States

A Delaware corporation in San Francisco, listed on the NYSE. It lists Pinterest Europe Limited as its only significant subsidiary, and told the Commission it owns it outright.

07ProtocolWho writes the rules of the network?

Pinterest, Inc. · United States

protocol: proprietary

A closed service with its own REST API.

07Shared servicesWhat does it lean on but not run?

None

07CodeWho builds the software?

Pinterest, Inc. · United States

licence: proprietary

Most employees are in California. Pinterest names Zurich (CH) as its one European engineering hub.

07VerificationWho checks users' identity, age or account?

Not established

checks: age

ID needed to post: no

A self-declared birth date at sign-up. A selfie or a government ID plus a selfie is asked for only when an under-18 birth date is changed or an age-based deactivation appealed, through a third-party partner Pinterest does not name.

06ModelsWhose models moderate, rank or check?

Pinterest, Inc. · United States

Pinterest's own models run recommendations, search and moderation. Its image model, Canvas, is trained on public Pins, EU users' included unless they opt out; under-18s are excluded, on the basis of legitimate interests. The Pinterest Assistant, built on Alibaba's open Qwen model, is offered only in the US.

05DataWhere does the data sit?

Pinterest Europe Ltd. and Pinterest, Inc. · United States

where: The United States. The two companies are joint controllers for EEA users, and the privacy policy names no EU location. Hosting sits in a single AWS region, which Pinterest's engineering blog places in us-east-1 (Virginia).

transfers: To Pinterest, Inc. and AWS in the US under the Data Privacy Framework, which covers Pinterest, Inc., and standard contractual clauses for other recipients.

04ServersWho runs the servers?

Amazon Web Services · United States

region: a single region, us-east-1 per the engineering blog; the filings say one region without naming it

AWS hosts the website, the app and many internal tools, with at least $4bn of AWS spending committed through May 2031. The origin sits behind the CDNs.

04EdgeWho stands in front of them?

Fastly · United States

also Akamai · United States: static JavaScript and CSS

The EU country sites, de.pinterest.com and the rest, are aliases of www.pinterest.com, so there is no separate EU host.

  • measured · www.pinterest.com · AS54113 Fastly · 25 Sep 2026
  • measured · i.pinimg.com · AS54113 Fastly · 25 Sep 2026 · images
  • measured · s.pinimg.com · AS33905 Akamai · 25 Sep 2026 · static assets

Checked 25 Sep 2026.