Pinterest Save Button

Overview

Pinterest Save Button (formerly the "Pin It" button) is a social sharing widget that lets website visitors save images and page content directly to their Pinterest boards. It appears as a button overlay on images or as a standalone widget alongside other social sharing options. While its primary purpose is content sharing, the widget loads Pinterest's platform scripts, which set cookies that identify users and feed data into Pinterest's advertising analytics.

What This Script Does

The Pinterest Save Button loads its SDK from assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js or the newer assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit_main.js. This script scans the page for save button markup and renders interactive Pinterest buttons. On image-heavy pages, it can also inject hover overlays on images, allowing users to save any image directly.

On page load — before the user interacts with any button — the SDK makes requests to Pinterest's servers that set cookies:

• _pinterest_sess — Pinterest session cookie; used to identify logged-in Pinterest users browsing the host site; variable expiry
• _pinterest_ct_ua — user agent tracking cookie for engagement analytics
• _pin_unauth — identifier for non-authenticated Pinterest visitors; 1-year expiry; enables Pinterest to track anonymous users across sites with the Save Button installed
• _routing_id — load balancing and server routing cookie

These cookies allow Pinterest to identify both logged-in and anonymous visitors across all websites that deploy the Save Button. This browsing data feeds into Pinterest's advertising platform for audience building and ad targeting.

When a user clicks the Save Button, a Pinterest overlay or popup opens, allowing them to select a board and add a description. The save action transmits the image URL, page URL, page title, and the user's Pinterest identity to Pinterest's servers.

The _pin_unauth cookie is particularly significant for privacy: it persists for a year and enables Pinterest to build a cross-site browsing profile of users who have never logged into Pinterest, purely based on which websites they visit that have the Save Button installed.

Consent & Compliance

Pinterest Save Button is classified as functional and marketing. The save-to-board feature is functional, but the tracking cookies set on page load serve Pinterest's advertising platform.

Under the GDPR, the tracking cookies — particularly _pin_unauth with its 1-year expiry for anonymous cross-site tracking — require explicit consent. These cookies are not necessary for the save functionality and are used to build advertising audiences. Processing personal data for advertising without consent violates Article 6(1)(a).

Under the ePrivacy Directive, cookies set before any user interaction with the button that serve advertising purposes are not strictly necessary. Article 5(3) requires prior consent. The anonymous tracking cookie (_pin_unauth) is especially problematic because it tracks users who may have no relationship with Pinterest.

Under CCPA/CPRA, the cross-site tracking enabled by the Save Button constitutes sharing of personal information for advertising. The _pin_unauth cookie's ability to track anonymous users across websites makes this a clear case of cross-context behavioral advertising subject to opt-out requirements.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Conditional. The Pinterest Save Button combines functional sharing with marketing tracking. The cookies set on page load for advertising purposes require consent. A privacy-respecting implementation should use a static placeholder button that loads the Pinterest SDK only after marketing consent is granted, or implement sharing via a direct URL redirect (https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=...&media=...) that avoids loading Pinterest's tracking scripts.