What is the _pinterest_sess cookie?
_pinterest_sess is an HTTP cookie issued by Pinterest Inc., the company behind the visual discovery and social media platform Pinterest. Despite the word "sess" (session) in its name, it is in practice a persistent cookie with a retention period of about one year, rather than being cleared when the browser closes.
It appears on a website whenever that site embeds a Pinterest element, such as the "Pin It" button, an embedded Pinterest widget, or the Pinterest tracking tag used for advertising campaigns and conversion measurement.
What data it stores
The cookie holds an identifier tied to the user's session or visit across Pinterest domains, used by Pinterest's systems to correlate activity. The exact format of the value is not publicly documented by Pinterest and may vary.
Data collected via this cookie is sent to Pinterest's servers (.pinterest.com) and can be combined, on Pinterest's side, with other tracking data for targeted advertising and behavioral analysis.
What it is used for
For Pinterest, the cookie helps recognize users across interactions with Pinterest content embedded on third-party sites, supporting advertising, conversion measurement, and ad personalization on the platform.
For the website owner, this cookie is usually a byproduct of embedding a Pinterest widget, share button, or tracking pixel, rather than something configured directly by the site.
Does it require consent?
In CookieFix's classification, _pinterest_sess falls under the marketing category (advertising/tracking). Under the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive (transposed in Romania via Law 506/2004), this type of cookie requires the user's prior consent before being set.
- The site owner must disclose this cookie in the cookie policy.
- The Pinterest script or widget that sets the cookie must be blocked until consent for the marketing category is obtained.
- Refusing consent should not affect the site's essential functionality.
How to block or delete _pinterest_sess
Visitors can delete or block _pinterest_sess manually through their browser's privacy settings (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) under per-site cookie management, or use private/incognito browsing to prevent it from being stored.
For site owners, automatic blocking before consent is achieved through a CMP such as CookieFix, which intercepts Pinterest-related scripts and activates them only after the visitor accepts the marketing category, helping meet the prior-consent requirement.
Frequently asked questions
It's an HTTP cookie set by Pinterest on the .pinterest.com domain, used to support visitor recognition and tracking for advertising purposes.
Its typical duration is about one year, even though the name suggests a temporary session cookie.
Yes, since it's classified as a marketing/tracking cookie, it requires the user's explicit consent before being placed.
Visitors can delete it via browser settings, and site owners can block it automatically until consent using a CMP like CookieFix.