Too many ads, Pinterest users complain

If you’ve hopped on Pinterest recently, you might have noticed your feed looking more like a nonstop sales pitch than a spot for fresh ideas. Folks are chiming in all over the place, saying the constant promotions are ruining the vibe that made the app so addictive in the first place.

Head over to X, and the complaints are rolling in fresh. Users like @rioluio put it plain and simple yesterday: “pinterest ads piss me off so badly.” Then there’s @acilumi_ griping about feeds crammed with junk, calling for some relief with “free me bro my Pinterest ads are so bad.” And @lucyofsorrows shared a video showing the ads.

Digging into searches for “Pinterest ads” pulls up even more from the past week, where people claim their feeds are now mostly Amazon or Temu plugs, and some are sharing hacks like switching VPN locations to tone it down.

Reddit’s r/Pinterest subreddit is basically a support group for this issue right now. Take the post from just 21 hours ago titled “So…many…Ads???”, where the poster swears the ads have hit ridiculous levels, racking up 16 votes. 

Another one from two days back, “I swear the ads are genuinely getting ridiculous now,” drew 46 votes and six comments, with users swapping stories of unrelated promotions hijacking their recommendations.

Similarly, there are several other posts (1,2,3,4,5) about the issue, with some users even saying they’d pay to get rid of the ads. And maybe, just maybe, this is exactly what Pinterest might have in mind. Who knows! I mean, YouTube has pretty much followed the same path where they’ve now started spamming ads left and right, leaving users with no other option but to bag a Premium subscription or flock to third-party tools and apps that bypass the ads.

That said, these gripes aren’t coming out of nowhere — they tie into Pinterest’s big bet on AI for better shopping hooks. A CNN report from November 22 notes that the company’s AI tools pumped revenue up 17% to $1 billion last quarter by steering users to buy stuff, but it’s leaving people cold.

Users in the report say they’re ditching sessions because they want real, human-curated content, not algorithm-fueled ads. Pinterest added an AI tuner last month to tweak things, but from the chatter, it’s not cutting through the clutter.

Other reports back this up, like ZDNet’s take from March on AI overwhelming feeds, or Fast Company’s November story, where CEO Bill Ready says fully blocking AI isn’t realistic. Pinterest offers a feedback spot on their help page, but users feel like it’s falling on deaf ears, leading some to bail for apps like Cosmos or Tumblr.

Pinterest used to be this laid-back place where you’d collect cool visuals and get creative without any hassle. Lately, though, it’s gotten a lot more insistent with the sales stuff, and all these complaints show folks really want that chill vibe back. It’s anyone’s guess if they’ll tone it down, but if your feed’s bugging you the same way, remember lots of others feel it too. Could be worth shooting them some feedback or checking out less cluttered options out there.