Yahoo Lifestyle Pinterest users won't see ads when they search for election-related content
The company is also giving its employees time off to vote and work at polling stations.
Ahead of November 3rd, Pinterest is implementing new policies to limit the amount and spread of misleading information related to the upcoming US presidential election. To start, when you search for topics like how to vote in two months times, you'll see a banner at the top of the results page that leads to Vote.org, a non-partisan resource where you can find definitive answers to those types of questions. You'll also find additional voting resources in the recently launched Today tab, which you can quickly get to through the app's top navigation bar on iOS and Android.
As November 3rd gets even closer, the company plans to limit recommendations for election-related content, including memes, in Pinterest's home feed, notifications and elsewhere throughout the app. The company also promises to turn off search autocomplete for specific political terms.
Today's policies build on the company's decision to ban political advertising from its platform in 2018. As before, you won't see political ads on Pinterest, nor will the company show any ads when you search for general election terms like "polling place." The same goes for when and if you decide to search for pins related to Donald Trump and Joe Biden. "We believe that's a better and more inspiring experience for everyone," Pinterest said.
Users aren't the only ones who will benefit from Pinterest's new policies. The company will give its more than 2,200 employees eight hours of paid time off to use toward civic engagement. They can take advantage of that time to do things like vote and work at a polling station. The move follows similar initiatives from other tech companies like Apple and Twitter.
"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," the company said.
More so than some other online platforms, Pinterest has historically done a good job of combating misinformation on its platform. When the coronavirus pandemic first hit, the company was quick to put credible information, from sources like the World Health Organization, in front of users.
