Pinterest Launches $500K Creator Fund to Create A More Inclusive Social Media Experience

Pinterest has paid attention to user feedback and is working to provide a safer, positive, and more inclusive social media experience for its users.

The image-sharing platform held an event on Wednesday, April 7 where Pinterest announced its new update plans and the launch of a $500,000 Creator Fund to elevate creatives from underrepresented communities, Tech Crunch reports. With a goal of being an “inclusive, positive and inspiring place,” Pinterest put new content guidelines in place through a Creator Code that requires creators to fact-check their content, be inclusive with what they’re sharing, be warmhearted to other app users, and ensure their call to actions on the platform don’t inflict harm of any kind.

Creators will now be required to sign the Code ahead of publishing Story pins and agree that their content follows the guidelines to “Be kind,” “Check my facts,” “Be aware of triggers,” “Practice inclusion” and “Do no harm.” The site’s new algorithm has been updated to reward positive content and block anything deemed harmful.

Pinterest’s Creator Fund will help to support creators from underrepresented communities in the United States by offering creative consultations, a budget for content creation, and ad credits. The app promises that at least 50% of the fund recipients will be from underrepresented groups.

“For the first participants of the program, we worked with eight emerging creators across fashion, photography, food and travel, and will be identifying 10 more creators in the next few months for the next cohort,” Creator Inclusion Lead Alexandra Nikolajev said. “We’re on a journey to build a globally inclusive platform where Pinners and Creators around the world can discover ideas that feel personalized, relevant and reflective of who they are.”

Other new tools give creators the power to remove and filter out comments, highlight up to three comments in the comments feed and use spam prevention tools to clear out unwanted or harmful comments. Additionally, “positivity reminders” will pop up to prevent users from posting potentially harmful comments.