Why Pinterest Deleted My Pin!

I love pinning on Pinterest. Recently I received notification from Pinterest about the removal of one of my pins. The company informed me that a copyright complaint was received and that the person or company promoting the content was told to remove it from both Pinterest and their website.

The email notice I received from Pinterest informed me about “When a copyright owner sends us a complete notice per the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), it’s our policy to remove the Pin(s).” The DMCA was passed by Congress in 1998 to reduce internet plagiarism and online copyright infringement. As creators of content ourselves, we appreciate social media platforms like Pinterest proactively dealing with copyright complaints and informing their users about the process.

When crafting websites and email newsletter campaigns gathering interesting images and writing content is critical. Typically all images found online are copy written, unless they are noted otherwise. All images should have listed sources, unless you took or own the image.

Best practices are to write your own copy or use your own photographs on your website, email newsletters and on the social media. However, if you want to share another’s funny meme, infographic, or stunning picture I cannot stress the incredible importance of crediting your sources. Include the link of where you found the content, reference the author’s information in the caption or article, simply contact the owner and ask, or purchase rights of use.