The Hidden Dangers of Pinterest – White Hatter

Pinterest tends to fly under the radar. Unlike Instagram or TikTok, it has never attracted the same level of public concern, it’s older, it’s built around image collections, and most parents consider it benign, if they think about it at all.

That perception is the problem. The White Hatter, a Canadian digital safety organisation, published a blog post recently after supporting two families whose children had shared intimate images via Pinterest’s direct messaging feature. In both cases, the parents had no idea the platform had a messaging function.

It’s a broader pattern worth raising with parents. Platforms that present as visual or creative tools like Pinterest, VSCO, Tumblr, Lemon8, Canva, Amino, often include messaging features that aren’t obvious. The question worth putting to parents isn’t “what app is my child using?” but “what can that app actually do?”

The article is a short, practical read:
https://www.thewhitehatter.ca/post/what-parents-didn-t-know-about-pinterest-matters-for-all-caregivers

 

Ms L Gibbons
Assistant Headteacher