Pinterest says mass account bans were caused by an ‘internal error’

Pinterest provides a small much transparency successful its latest response.

Pinterest has apologized for a caller question of “over-enforcement” that erroneously deactivated galore accounts. The level has experienced some weird moderation issues successful caller weeks, and outraged users reported their accounts had been suspended without informing oregon explanation. In effect to galore appeals, the level cited unspecified assemblage line violations.

The institution initially addressed prohibition concerns with a connection saying that it volition “continuously show for contented that violates our Community Guidelines and accounts with violative contented whitethorn beryllium deactivated arsenic a result.” This reply did small to soothe outrage from users who were calling for Pinterest to clarify however accounts had violated the platform’s guidelines, and complained that appeals to reinstate mistakenly banned accounts were not being processed, oregon being rejected without explanation.

On Wednesday, Pinterest issued an updated statement by responding to a enactment station it had published to X successful July past year. “We precocious took enactment connected violations of our contented policies, but an interior mistake led to over-enforcement and immoderate accounts were mistakenly deactivated,” Pinterest said connected Wednesday successful an updated connection attached to an aged X post. “We’re atrocious for the vexation this caused. We’ve reinstated galore impacted accounts and are making improvements to respond faster erstwhile mistakes hap going forward.”

Pinterest hasn’t fixed immoderate circumstantial details astir what the “internal error” was, what caused it, oregon if it has been resolved. Some users reported that Pinterest was besides deleting pins for seemingly random and inaccurate contented violations, specified arsenic images of mundane objects being flagged for “adult content,” starring to speculation that pins and accounts were being reported by an inadequately implemented AI moderation system. Pinterest has since told TechCrunch that AI moderation was not liable for the error.

Users who were mistakenly suspended successful the past fewer weeks are starting to regain entree to their accounts, according to reports connected the Pinterest subreddit. Given however clumsily the institution has handled the situation, however, immoderate scorned users are successful nary unreserved to forgive the platform.