Spokesperson Crystal Espinosa said in a statement that Pinterest has “a strict zero-tolerance policy for any content that may exploit or endanger minors,” and noted that when sexually suggestive boards containing “otherwise innocuous or non-sexual images” are detected, the company immediately takes them down and bans the creators.

Upon doing an initial search for images of kids, he said, his homepage “almost immediately” filled with images of children often dressed in similarly revealing attire, several of which had received sexually suggestive comments. Sauer conducted an independent review of the site at the request of NBC News, using a similar methodology. “This is material that is innocently posted and is now being used to drive sexual interest in children,” said Stephen Sauer of the nonprofit Canadian Centre for Child Protection, which works to stop child exploitation.

The children are typically seen bending over, doing the splits, sticking their tongues out and dancing in their bedrooms while dressed in outfits like pajama shorts, bathing suits and leotards. (The majority of the girls’ profiles were algorithmically surfaced by Pinterest itself during the course of the reporting.) The review showed that the site’s recommendation engine serves up photos and videos of visibly underage girls, including toddlers, in large quantities to a user seeking out this type of imagery. Over a one-month period, NBC News created a Pinterest account and reviewed hundreds of girls’ Pinterest accounts as well as their followers’ pages, many of whom appeared to be men.

Pinterest instagram photos