Affiliate Disclosures on Pinterest
A Pin that contains or leads to an affiliate link is advertising. Disclose in the Pin description and, ideally, on the image — it travels as the Pin recirculates.
Pinterest is a heavily commercial, discovery-driven platform where affiliate links are common — and where disclosure is easy to overlook because a Pin is primarily a visual object. The FTC rules apply to Pins exactly as they do elsewhere: a Pin that contains or leads to an affiliate link is advertising and must be disclosed.
The rules for Pins
- Include a clear disclosure such as “#ad” in the visible Pin description, near the start, not buried at the end.
- Do not rely on the destination page’s disclosure alone — the Pin itself promotes the product, so the Pin needs the disclosure.
- Where the affiliate relationship is central, consider adding the disclosure onto the image itself, since users engage with the visual first.
- Ensure the destination page also carries its own disclosure, per the rules for blogs and websites.
Idea Pins and video Pins
For video-style and multi-page Pins, treat disclosure like short-form video: make it visible on screen and early, not only in a caption that may be truncated or skipped. See short-form video.
A durable approach
Because Pins are re-saved and resurface long after posting, a disclosure baked into the description or the image travels with the content. That durability is an advantage: build the disclosure in once, and it keeps working as the Pin circulates. Vague tags like “#sp” fail here for the same reason they fail everywhere — ordinary users do not read them as “paid.”
A worked example
Compliant: a Pin whose description opens “#ad” and links to a blog post that itself discloses affiliate links above the fold. Non-compliant: a visually appealing product Pin that links straight to a merchant through an affiliate URL with no disclosure on the Pin at all — the most common Pinterest failure.
Pinterest checklist
- Clear disclosure (“#ad”) near the start of the Pin description.
- Disclosure on the image itself where the link is central.
- Destination page carries its own disclosure and correct link attribution.
- No reliance on ambiguous tags or the board title alone.
Authoritative sources
Last reviewed July 2026. This page is general educational information, not legal or tax advice.