From July 1, 2021, the social network Pinterest, on which users share photos of their interests, prohibits the publication of advertising content related to weight loss, the social network announced on Thursday.

"As of July 1, 2021, Pinterest is updating its advertising policies to ban all ads containing text or images related to weight loss," said in a statement the platform which claims 475 million users active every month in the world.

A "major step"

"Only advertisements promoting healthy habits and lifestyles or fitness products and services will remain permitted, as long as they are not focused on weight loss," she says. Any text, image or testimony on weight loss, diet products and products "to be worn or applied to the skin that claim to allow weight loss" are banned from the social network. Any content "which idealizes or denigrates certain morphologies" and any reference to "the body mass index (BMI) or similar indices" are also prohibited.

This is “a major step in prioritizing the mental and physical health of our users.

We want them to be able to feel free to be themselves on Pinterest, and celebrate the diversity of bodies, whatever their shape or size, ”said Sarah Bromma, Pinterest's chief practices officer, quoted in the statement.

"Body shaming"

The National Eating Disorders Association, associated with this change in advertising policy, says it is "hopeful" that the initiative "encourages other organizations and businesses to think about the potential danger posed by certain advertising messages. ", Urging them" to establish new policies that will allow real change ". Pinterest indicates that this decision is part of an approach already started in terms of advertising, the social network having banned "for a long time" body shaming and publications defending excessive thinness or overly drastic diets.

He adds that any search for keywords related to eating disorders is "automatically blocked, referring the user to an organization that can help them."

Finally, each week the social network will highlight content "from creators around the world" who "reinvent our relationship to the body" by conveying "positive themes such as body neutrality and self-acceptance".

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