Enforcing and maintaining Raptive’s quality standards

Tell us if this sounds familiar: you’re scrolling through Pinterest when you come across a photo you’ve seen before. 

You know you’ve seen it because you took that photo. But it’s not your pin. And when you click through to the site, you see more than just your images—there’s your copy, almost word for word.  

And what do you know, this site is being monetized. Someone has scraped your content, repackaged it with AI, and slapped it up on a different website. And unlike a real creator, who can spend upwards of 24 hours researching and writing a single post, they can do it in seconds. 

Yes, you can submit a DMCA notice and report the site to its ad network. But that doesn’t always work, nor does it recoup any of the time or traffic you’ve lost as a result. Traffic that, in many cases, can equate to millions of pageviews. 

Your traffic is impacted by more than sites stealing your content. Sites created entirely by AI are also ranking—and ranking well—in Pinterest pins, driving down all of our human traffic. When ad networks monetize these low-quality sites, they lose credibility with advertisers, which means lower RPMs for everyone in their network. 

With platforms failing to stop the flood of stolen AI-generated content, one thing is clear: if we don’t take action to protect our traffic, the future of the internet will be bleak. 

Raptive’s stance on AI-generated content

We’ve always been committed to keeping the Raptive network a healthy, high-quality environment where stolen content is not allowed, full stop. 

While we believe AI can be a helpful tool, we do not believe AI should replace humans in creating authentic content that brings value to readers. We stand firmly behind the rule that any content in the Raptive community, whether written by a person or with the help of AI, should have meaningful, thoughtful human involvement.

Every Raptive site is vetted by a human and always has been

We manually vet every single site that joins Raptive, no matter its size, and that has always been true. While we do use tools during the review process to help with efficiency, we always rely on human reviews and insights.

So far in 2025, 13% of applications have been rejected for AI-generated content. We’ve been disappointed to see that 57% of those sites were later monetized by a well-known competitor.

We don’t rely on third-party partners to catch low-quality sites before they join our network, and no site gets approved without a solid review by one of our skilled Policy Compliance Specialists. 

Content quality evaluation

Our team carefully evaluates each site’s content to make sure it meets our rigorous quality criteria, including:

• Originality: content must be unique, free of plagiarism, and respect copyright laws
• Trustworthiness: sites should demonstrate expertise and reliability, offering valuable insights to their audiences
• Brand safety: content is free from derogatory, deceptive, explicit, or unsafe material

Traffic quality analysis

We also analyze the traffic sources of each site and only approve sites with authentic, high-quality traffic. That means rejecting sites with:

• Fraudulent or suspicious traffic
• Non-human or bot-generated activity
• Traffic purchased solely to inflate advertising revenue

You can review our content and traffic policies here.

AI usage standards

We recognize the potential of AI as a creative tool when used responsibly. During our review process, we’re searching for proof that if AI was used, the content was thoroughly reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a human before being published. Our goal is to ensure that human creativity and direction remain at the heart of content creation. You can review our AI policies here. 

And our commitment to quality doesn’t stop once a site joins Raptive. 

Ongoing monitoring

While we appreciate creators notifying us if there’s any suspicion of low-quality, AI-generated content in our network, we don’t rely on that as our main source for finding bad actors. 

It’s our job to police the quality of our network, and we take it seriously. 

Rejecting applicants is our first line of defense against the misuse of AI, but there’s always a chance that a previously approved site has since shifted its content strategy—or changed ownership to someone who prioritizes AI-generated content.

For this reason, we review content at the application stage and proactively monitor sites to ensure content remains in line with our policies. With over 5,700 sites in our network, that’s no small feat! 

Of course, not every system is perfect. With AI’s constant evolution, we too must adapt our practices to identify AI-generated content. You can trust that our team is constantly training and pivoting to keep our review tactics updated so we can quickly identify sites misusing AI.

Since starting to track removals in 2024, we’ve removed over 50 sites due to AI-generated content concerns. Unfortunately many of those sites have found a home elsewhere.

There is no trust without quality 

Raptive was built on quality and trust, and you can expect that to continue. Our advertisers trust us to maintain high standards in content review, and that leads to high-paying ad campaigns and exclusive deals for you. As creators, you have enough on your plates without worrying that your ad network is devaluing the amazing work you do. 

AI isn’t going anywhere, but we believe in using it to empower and enhance your creativity rather than mass-reproduce content. It should help you streamline your workload, generate ideas, and summarize data—not steal your content, siphon off your traffic, and collect a paycheck. 

The fight against AI-generated content can be a game of whack-a-mole, but we’re staying vigilant and doing everything we can to stop AI slop from crowding out the content creators who built the internet.