China has blocked Pinterest since March 2017. Few other governments have blocked it: Nepal did for a few days in 2025, while Russia and Turkey have fined it or banned its adverts instead.
Every day we open Pinterest from inside 24 countries, mostly over home broadband, and record
where it’s blocked, since when and how.
1 of 24tested countries with a confirmed block of Pinterest
Blocked in China. 24 of 24 results confirmed in the last 48 hours.
Blocked means the networks we test there failed to open www.pinterest.com, twice, while it opened elsewhere.
“Turned away by the site” means Pinterest itself refused visitors from that country.
* First observed on this date: the block may be older. Older results are excluded from current totals.
Background
Where Pinterest is restricted, and why
Pinterest was one of the few big Western social sites still open in China until March 2017, when a censorship monitoring group found it had been unreachable there for about a week. Why isn’t clear; the block came during the annual “Two Sessions” political meetings in Beijing. Freedom House still lists Pinterest among the international platforms blocked in China, and independent tests there found it blocked in 2026.
Russia has fined Pinterest repeatedly but hasn’t announced a block. Courts fined it 2 million roubles in June 2022 for refusing to store Russians’ personal data in Russia, and again in August 2022 for not removing banned content. Moscow’s Tagansky District Court added 12 million roubles in March 2025 for a second refusal to move the data, and in September 2026 fined it 3.5 million roubles for refusing to monitor banned content.
Turkey and Nepal used registration rules. Under Turkey’s 2020 social media law, platforms with more than a million daily users must appoint a local representative, and on 19 January 2021 Turkey banned advertising on Pinterest and Twitter for not having one. Nepal’s September 2025 order against platforms that hadn’t registered under its 2023 social media directive also covered Pinterest; it was reversed days later, after deadly protests.
Australia’s under-16 social media rules, which took effect on 10 December 2025, left Pinterest out. The country’s eSafety regulator said that while Pinterest enables some online social interaction, that isn’t its significant purpose, so unlike Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Reddit it wasn’t required to keep younger Australians off.
Key dates
A Moscow court fines Pinterest 3.5 million roubles for refusing to monitor content banned in Russia.
Australia’s under-16 social media rules take effect without Pinterest, which the eSafety regulator said isn’t mainly for social interaction.
Nepal blocks Pinterest under its 2023 social media directive, as one of 26 unregistered platforms; the ban lasts only days.
A Moscow court fines Pinterest 12 million roubles for refusing, a second time, to store Russian users’ data in Russia.
Turkey bans advertising on Pinterest for not appointing a local representative under its 2020 social media law.
China blocks Pinterest, one of the last big Western social sites still open there.
Get past a block
Pinterest blocked where you are?
A VPN connects you through a server in another country, so a local block on Pinterest no longer applies. Where VPNs themselves are blocked, you need one that can disguise its traffic.
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We earn a commission if you buy through these links. It never changes what the monitor shows. Our disclosure.
History
Changes for Pinterest
No confirmed changes since monitoring began on 29 Sep 2026. When a block appears or lifts, and a re-check on several machines agrees, it shows up here.
Method
How we test
Test machines on the two biggest home-internet providers in most countries open the homepage every day.
A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
We test websites, mostly over home broadband. Apps, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.
No reason has been given. Pinterest was one of the few big Western social sites still open in China until March 2017, when it was found blocked during the annual “Two Sessions” political meetings in Beijing. Freedom House still lists it among the international platforms blocked there.
Is Pinterest Banned in Russia?
No ban has been announced, but Russian courts have fined Pinterest several times: for refusing to store Russian users’ data in Russia, in 2022 and 2025; for not removing banned content, in 2022; and in September 2026 for refusing to monitor content banned there.
Is Pinterest Part of Australia’s Under-16 Social Media Ban?
No. When the rules took effect on 10 December 2025, Pinterest wasn’t on the list of age-restricted platforms: Australia’s eSafety regulator said that while it enables some online social interaction, that isn’t its significant purpose. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, TikTok and YouTube are among those covered.
