Does the Pinterest Tag require explicit cookie consent?

Yes. Pinterest Tag is a marketing tracker. It sets year-long cookies including _pin_unauth, which tracks anonymous visitors who have never used Pinterest across all sites with the tag installed. GDPR requires explicit opt-in; ePrivacy requires consent before any of these advertising cookies are placed.

What cookies does the Pinterest Tag set?

Pinterest Tag sets _pin_unauth (1-year, anonymous cross-site visitor ID), _pinterest_ct_ua (1-year, user agent tracking), _epik (1-year, enhanced match identifier for conversion attribution), and _derived_epik (additional attribution matching cookie). Events are sent to ct.pinterest.com.

How does ConsentStack manage the Pinterest Tag?

ConsentStack classifies Pinterest Tag as marketing. The s.pinimg.com/ct/core.js library is blocked on page load until the visitor grants marketing consent. Once consent is given, ConsentStack allows the tag to initialize and begin firing PageVisit and custom conversion events for campaign attribution.

What tracker domains does Pinterest Tag use?

ConsentStack has catalogued tracker domains for Pinterest Tag including t.pinterest.com. These are the network destinations Pinterest Tag's scripts contact, which a consent platform blocks until a visitor agrees.

Pinterest Tag - Conversion Pixel & Cookie Consent

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Overview

Pinterest Tag is a JavaScript tracking pixel that serves as the foundation of Pinterest's advertising measurement infrastructure. It is the primary script that websites install to enable Pinterest conversion tracking, audience building, and campaign analytics. Nearly every website running Pinterest ad campaigns will have the Pinterest Tag deployed across their pages.

What This Script Does

The Pinterest Tag loads from s.pinimg.com/ct/core.js and initializes with the advertiser's unique tag ID. Once loaded, it fires on every page view and tracks a comprehensive set of user interactions. The tag uses the pintrk global function for event tracking.

On initialization, the tag:

Sets tracking cookies for persistent user identification:
- _pin_unauth — anonymous visitor identifier; 1-year expiry; tracks users across all websites with the Pinterest Tag, even if they have no Pinterest account
- _pinterest_ct_ua — user agent tracking cookie for device-level analytics
- _epik — enhanced match identifier for first-party conversion attribution; 1-year expiry
- _derived_epik — derived enhanced match cookie for additional attribution matching
Fires a PageVisit event automatically, recording the page URL, referrer, and page metadata
Listens for custom events configured by the advertiser:
- checkout — purchase completed (with value, order ID, product IDs)
- addtocart — product added to cart (with product details)
- signup — user registration completed
- lead — lead form submitted
- search — search performed (with search query)
- viewcategory — category page viewed
- custom — any custom-defined event
Enhanced matching — When configured, the tag collects hashed email addresses and other customer identifiers to improve conversion attribution rates by matching website visitors to Pinterest users

All event data is sent to ct.pinterest.com via pixel requests. The data package includes the event type, event metadata, Pinterest tracking cookies, page context, and any enhanced match parameters.

The Pinterest Tag enables three core advertising features:

Conversion tracking — Measuring which promoted pin campaigns drive website actions
Audience building — Creating retargeting audiences based on website behavior (visited specific pages, added to cart, purchased)
Actalike audiences — Pinterest's equivalent of lookalike audiences, built from Tag data to find new users who resemble existing customers

Consent & Compliance

Pinterest Tag is classified as marketing. It is an advertising measurement and audience building tool with no functional purpose for the website visitor.

Under the GDPR, the Pinterest Tag requires explicit consent before loading. It processes personal data extensively — tracking cookies, browsing behavior, purchase events, potentially hashed email addresses — for advertising purposes. The _pin_unauth cookie's ability to track users who have no Pinterest account across multiple websites makes the consent requirement especially clear. Legitimate interest cannot justify this scope of cross-site advertising tracking.

Under the ePrivacy Directive, the Pinterest Tag sets multiple cookies for advertising purposes that are entirely unrelated to any service the user has requested. Article 5(3) requires prior informed consent. The 1-year expiry on the primary tracking cookies further demonstrates that these are not transient, session-based storage but persistent advertising identifiers.

Under CCPA/CPRA, the Pinterest Tag constitutes both sharing and potentially selling personal information for advertising. The cross-site tracking via _pin_unauth, the enhanced matching with hashed email addresses, and the audience building for ad targeting all fall under CPRA's definition of sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising. Websites must provide "Do Not Sell or Share" opt-out and honor GPC signals.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Yes. The Pinterest Tag is a marketing tracker that fires on every page load, sets year-long tracking cookies (including for users without Pinterest accounts), collects detailed browsing and purchase behavior, and enables advertising audience building. It must be blocked until the user explicitly consents to marketing tracking. This is one of the most aggressive social platform tracking tags in terms of anonymous user identification.

Is Pinterest Tag GDPR compliant?

Pinterest Tag typically loads marketing trackers, which are not strictly necessary for your site to work. Under the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, non-essential cookies and trackers must stay blocked until a visitor gives clear opt-in consent. So Pinterest Tag can be fully GDPR compliant, but only if your site holds its scripts until consent is granted and lets visitors decline just as easily. Compliance depends on how your site loads Pinterest Tag, not on Pinterest Tag itself.

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