Pinterest Caught Listing Top Pro-Life Website as Porn to Censor Its Content

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Jun 11, 2019   |   9:54AM   |   Washington, DC

It appears that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are not the only social media sites that may be censoring pro-life content.

Pinterest, a popular website for sharing images, crafts, recipes and do-it-yourself projects, blocked content from Live Action by placing it on a list with pornography sites and other objectionable content, according to a whistleblower at the company.

“We have more questions than answers about Pinterest’s censorship of Live Action and the pro-life message. Based on the evidence provided, it appears that Pinterest intentionally added ‘LiveAction.org’ to a ‘pornography’ blocklist in an effort to suppress our pro-life content from being shared on the platform,” said Live Action founder and president Lila Rose.

The anonymous whistleblower told Project Veritas that the company maintains a “pornography block list” to remove objectionable content from the website. If a website is on that list, Pinterest users cannot create a pin, or post, linking to the site.

After hearing rumors about political censorship, the whistleblower said they looked at the list and found that LiveAction.org had been added in February.

SIGN THE PETITION! Attention Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube: Stop Censoring Pro-Lifers

UPDATE: Pinterest has now suspended Live Action’s account claiming their pro-life content is “medically inaccurate information” & “conspiracies” that lead to “violence.”

Live Action’s pins typically include inspirational messages to pregnant mothers, ultrasound images of unborn babies and information about abortion procedures and Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion chain in America.

“Pinterest has targeted Live Action, I believe, because our message is so effective at educating millions about the humanity of the preborn child and the injustice of abortion,” Rose said.

She said they have received numerous complaints in the past few months about people having difficulty pinning their content.

The pro-life organization tested Pinterest for itself and was not able to create pins from its own website. It could, however, create pins from pro-abortion websites like Planned Parenthood.

The problems continued through Sunday evening. On Monday, however, after Project Veritas released its interview with the whistleblower, Live Action was able to create pins linking to its website, according to the pro-life organization.

“By secretly applying the label of ‘pornography’ to Live Action’s pro-life content, Pinterest demonstrates a concerted effort to sideline a leading pro-life organization the only way they knew how. This does not appear to be a simple mistake,” Rose said.

She urged the company to stop its “secret and dishonest” censorship and allow the free expression of pro-life content.

The whistleblower’s concerns did not end there. They said someone at Pinterest also added “David Daleiden/Planned Parenthood” to a list of conspiracy theories that it monitors. Daleiden exposed the abortion chain for harvesting aborted baby body parts and allegedly illegally selling them.

The whistleblower said “Bible verses” and other Christian terms also are listed on the Pinterest offensive terms list, a list that employees add terms to manually.

For years, pro-life leaders have suspected that internet giants like YouTube, Google, Facebook and Twitter are quietly censoring pro-life content. Earlier this spring, the pro-life film “Unplanned” had its account suspended on Twitter and then lost all of its followers; Twitter later said it was a mistake and restored the account. Google also temporarily listed the film as “propaganda” on its search engine.

Last fall, makers of the “Gosnell” film said Facebook also censored their ads. The Susan B. Anthony List accused Facebook of censoring its election ads just prior to the November mid-terms as well.

Live Action has said Twitter repeatedly censored its ads. Founder Lila Rose said the social media site blocked their ability to advertise and told them to change information on their websites if they want to start advertising again. In 2015, Facebook also refused to allow Live Action to advertise one of its stories because “the image or video thumbnail may shock or evoke a negative response from viewers.” The image was of baby Eli Thompson who was born without a nose.

Facebook became a subject of national controversy in 2016 after some of its workers admitted that they suppressed conservative news stories in favor of liberal ones. LifeNews.com, which is the leading pro-life news website on the Internet and the only one specifically devoted to pro-life issues, has long believed that Facebook has been suppressing its traffic.

ACTION: Contact Pinterest to complain about the censorship.