Pinterest: age checks in the UK

Age check in two situations: changing an account age listed as under 18, and appealing an account deactivated for age reasons. Pinterest emails a link to an unnamed third-party partner for a selfie, or a government-ID photo plus selfie. No published retention period found (checked 18 October 2026).

Age check for some content or features Social media Pinterest Europe Ltd and Pinterest, Inc. (joint data controllers for UK users, per Pinterest’s privacy policy) verified 18 October 2026

Facts panel

Published statements are shown with their sources and the dates we checked them. Missing information and availability limits remain explicit.

Domain: pinterest.com
Age check: Pinterest’s help page is not country-specific. Its privacy policy (effective 30 April 2025) lists among its uses of information: “Conduct age verification, as appropriate. This may include facial age estimation and matching your face against a government ID.”
Age check for some content or features
Triggered by: specific features
Applies to: accounts the service flags
Notes: Pinterest’s “Age requirements and verification” page (undated, read 18 October 2026): “You must be at least 13 years old to use Pinterest.” “If you need to verify your date of birth, you’ll receive an email from Pinterest with a link to upload necessary verification documents. You’ll need to verify your birthday if: The age on your account is currently listed as under 18 years old and you’d like to change it. Your account is deactivated because you haven’t met the age requirement. If you believe there’s a mistake, you can submit an appeal from the deactivation email.” “We require all users to go through a verification process with our trusted third-party partner to have their accounts reviewed for reactivation. Please do not send any sensitive documents, such as your government ID or birth certificate, to Pinterest directly.” “To verify your age, you can either choose to take a photo of your government ID and a selfie, or only take a selfie.” The accounts affected are those Pinterest has deactivated for age reasons and those whose listed age is under 18 and who want to change it; no estimate of age from behaviour is described.
Methods: Face scan Photo ID
Vendor: Other recorded providers for face scan, photo id
Overall record checked: 18 October 2026. Individual methods may have later checks, shown below.

Methods and retention, one row per method

Method	Provider	Retention, as published	Source
Facial age estimation (face scan)	Provider not identified	No published retention period found (checked 18 October 2026). Notes: Pinterest’s page: “To verify your age, you can either choose to take a photo of your government ID and a selfie, or only take a selfie. Bear in mind that you’ll need to allow access to your camera because you can’t upload a photo of yourself or your ID from your camera roll.” and “Only photos taken at the time of verification are accepted as it allows our verification partner to confirm that the documents are in your possession.” Pinterest’s privacy policy: age verification “may include facial age estimation”. The partner is not named on any Pinterest page read. No retention period is published.	help.pinterest.com Primary source · checked 18 October 2026
Photo ID	Provider not identified	No published retention period found (checked 18 October 2026). Notes: Pinterest’s page: a photo of a government ID taken with the camera at the time of verification, together with a selfie. Pinterest’s privacy policy: “matching your face against a government ID”. “Please do not send any sensitive documents, such as your government ID or birth certificate, to Pinterest directly. We cannot process your age verification through our support emails or contact form.” No retention period is published.	help.pinterest.com Primary source · checked 18 October 2026

What you will see

What happens: If your account age is listed as under 18 and you change it in settings, or your account is deactivated for age reasons, Pinterest emails you a link to its verification partner. There you take a selfie, or a photo of a government ID plus a selfie, using your camera; uploads from the camera roll are not accepted. Pinterest emails you the outcome, and a reactivated account is asked for its date of birth again at the next login.
How long it takes: Pinterest’s page: “It may take up to one business day to verify your age.”
If you decline: Pinterest’s page: “You can continue using Pinterest without verifying your age, but you won’t have access to certain features based on our teen safety settings.” An account deactivated for age reasons stays deactivated unless the appeal succeeds; “all appeals must be made using this link.”
Official help page: help.pinterest.com

Still being verified

These points about this entry are not yet settled. They are shown rather than hidden. Until each is resolved, the facts panel records only what a published source says.

Pinterest names no verification provider: its help page says “our trusted third-party partner” and “Our verification partner regularly conducts routine audits”.
No retention period for the selfie or ID is published on Pinterest’s help page or in its privacy policy (effective 30 April 2025); the policy says only that Pinterest may “Conduct age verification, as appropriate. This may include facial age estimation and matching your face against a government ID.”
How Pinterest decides to deactivate an account “because you haven’t met the age requirement” is not described beyond user reports (“If you believe an account on Pinterest doesn’t meet our age requirements, please report the account”).
No Pinterest page about the UK Online Safety Act was found; the help pages read are not country-specific (the en-gb versions were used). Pinterest’s teen-safety page names the UK only for ad personalisation: “If you’re under 18 in the EU or UK, note that you’re automatically opted out of all ad personalisation settings.”
Pinterest’s privacy policy page says an updated policy takes effect on 12 November 2026; the preview was not read.

Questions people ask about Pinterest

Does Pinterest require age verification in the UK?

For some content or features. As of 18 October 2026, Pinterest asks UK users to complete an age check for specific features, applying to accounts the service flags. Pinterest’s help page is not country-specific. Its privacy policy (effective 30 April 2025) lists among its uses of information: “Conduct age verification, as appropriate. This may include facial age estimation and matching your face against a government ID.”

Is the Pinterest age check a face scan?

A face scan (facial age estimation) is one of 2 recorded methods: Facial age estimation (face scan) and Photo ID. Which methods a service offers can change; the date each was checked is shown on the page. Pinterest’s help page is not country-specific. Its privacy policy (effective 30 April 2025) lists among its uses of information: “Conduct age verification, as appropriate. This may include facial age estimation and matching your face against a government ID.”

What does Pinterest keep after the age check?

Facial age estimation (face scan) via the service: No published retention period found (checked 18 October 2026). Photo ID via the service: No published retention period found (checked 18 October 2026). Pinterest’s help page is not country-specific. Its privacy policy (effective 30 April 2025) lists among its uses of information: “Conduct age verification, as appropriate. This may include facial age estimation and matching your face against a government ID.”

What if the Pinterest age check is not working?

This site records what the service publishes; it does not troubleshoot or offer workarounds. Pinterest's own help page is https://help.pinterest.com/en-gb/article/age-verification-appeals. The record lists 2 methods; availability depends on the service and account: Facial age estimation (face scan) and Photo ID. If you do not complete the check, the service states: Pinterest’s page: “You can continue using Pinterest without verifying your age, but you won’t have access to certain features based on our teen safety settings.” An account deactivated for age reasons stays deactivated unless the appeal succeeds; “all appeals must be made using this link.” Pinterest’s help page is not country-specific. Its privacy policy (effective 30 April 2025) lists among its uses of information: “Conduct age verification, as appropriate. This may include facial age estimation and matching your face against a government ID.”

Regulator actions

No Ofcom or ICO action naming this service is recorded as of 18 October 2026.

Full enforcement register · Regulatory timeline

Sources for this entry

Pinterest Help: Age requirements and verification service help
Pinterest Help: Teen safety options (profile visibility by age; UK and EU under-18s opted out of ad personalisation) service help
Pinterest Privacy Policy (effective 30 April 2025; “Conduct age verification, as appropriate”) service policy 30 April 2025
Pinterest Community Guidelines (accounts for users under 16 set to private; parental passcode) service policy

Changes to this record

2026-10-18 — seed: Record created from Pinterest’s own help pages (Age requirements and verification; Teen safety options) and privacy policy, read 18 October 2026, with research/01 row 14 as the starting point only. The seed had Pinterest as “Unknown”; Pinterest’s own page describes a selfie or ID-plus-selfie check through a third party for age changes and age-related deactivations. seed

RSS feed for this record · All changes

Correct this entry

If Pinterest's own page says something different, that page wins and we want to know. Send a correction with the URL. Corrections are answered within a week and logged above with their source. Nothing you send is published.