Earlier this year, sex.com underwent a huge redesign and came out the other side looking like a Pinterest for porn. Sex.com, which was part of one of the most famous domain name legal battles ever, has seen many different looks throughout the years. But the latest incarnation is all about pinboards.
“Sex.com lets you collect, organize and share all the free porn you find on the web! People use pinboards to bookmark and organize all their favorite porn videos & pictures. With just one click, you can pin porn from anywhere on the web and add it to your pinboards,” they say. That’s fine and dandy. But what if users want to pin content from sex.com on the actual Pinterest site? Up until recently, that’s been ok.
Now, according to sex.com founder Iain MacNeil, Pinterest has blocked content from sex.com. That means users can’t use the site as a source for their pins.
Here’s what MacNeil had to say, courtesy of TechCrunch:
Without contacting us, Pinterest banned all activity from Sex.com. Pinterest users can no longer pin any content from Sex.com nor can they view the site from older pins. We’ve unjustly been marked as spam. Our attempts to contact Pinterest have been fruitless. We want to know why they banned their adult community from seeing an alternative. Is it as simple as Pinterest is afraid of losing the adult content community despite the fact they do not respect users who use their site for adult content? Or is it that Pinterest does not believe a female audience for Sex.com is inappropriate?
A quick search of “sex.com” on Pinterest only shows one pin originating from the site. And if you click on the pin, here’s the message you see:
In the Pin Etiquette, Pinterest does say that “we do not allow nudity, hateful content, or content that encourages people to hurt themselves.” Their Acceptable Use policy makes no mention of nudity or sex, however.
And if you search for something like “sex” or “nude” on the site, you’ll be greeted with this message:
Reminder: Pinterest does not allow nudity. Pinning or repinning photographs displaying breasts, buttocks or genitalia may result in the termination of your Pinterest account
Even if Pin Etiquette says Pinterest doesn’t allow nudity, Pinterest allows nudity (NSFW).
So, what’s the real story over at Pinterest? No nudity, some nudity, the right kind of nudity? I’ve reached out to Pinterest and will update this article when I receive a response.