Allegations of AI misuse and unauthorized content have mounted against the Pin Trading App following a Disney influencer’s discovery of an advertisement featuring her AI-altered likeness.
Creator Ends Relationship With Pin Trading App
Disney content creator catonmainstreet_ says the Pin Trading App used her likeness in an unauthorized Facebook advertisement, in which her skin tone and Hispanic features were adjusted or removed outright with artificial intelligence, despite an agreement expressly prohibiting such use.
The allegation follows other complaints about the Pin Trading App’s use of AI-generated media, photographs belonging to other pin-collecting services, and even content originally produced by us here at WDWNT.
Catonmainstreet_ had previously produced promotional content for the Pin Trading App. Her original video showed her wearing a red top and custom character ear headbands while using her phone over a display filled with Disney pins.
Agreement Prohibited AI Alterations
According to catonmainstreet_, her agreement with the company specifically prohibited using AI or other automated tools to alter her work without her written consent.
She displayed the relevant clause in her Reel:
Prohibition of AI Usage. The License granted to the Brand does not include the right to use, modify, repurpose, or exploit the Deliverables with artificial intelligence (AI) or any automated tools. The Brand may not use AI or similar technology to alter, enhance, adapt, or generate derivative works based on the Deliverables without the prior written consent of the Creator.
Catonmainstreet_ said she provided this language to the company before they began working together. She added that she would never authorize someone to change her skin tone or ethnic features for advertising—or for any other purpose.
The Pin Trading App Facebook advertisement in question recreated a scene very similar to her original content, featuring roughly the same outfit, custom-made Darth Maul ear headband, and tattoos. The rest of the scene and most notably her face, however, had been substantially altered.
Comparing the original video with the Facebook advertisement, catonmainstreet_ said her olive skin was made significantly lighter. Freckles were added, her naturally dark features were lightened, and the shape of her nose was changed. Her teeth were also altered, including the removal of the gap between her front teeth.
“They did keep my tattoos, my custom-made ears, and my outfit,” she noted.
The creator, who identifies as Hispanic, explained that the altered characteristics were not insignificant cosmetic details. “Those aren’t random features on my face,” she said. “Those are my features. I am Hispanic. I love my olive skin. I love my dark features.
“I don’t need a different version of me to be marketable,” she said.
After bringing the advertisement to the company’s attention, catonmainstreet_ said she was offered a financial amount to resolve the dispute. She did not disclose the amount but described it as so small that calling it “peanuts” would be generous.
According to her account, the company justified the amount by pointing to the limited period during which the advertisement ran and characterizing the situation as a misunderstanding.
She rejected that explanation, noting that she had provided an explicit prohibition against AI-generated alterations before entering the partnership. She also declined the company’s proposed resolution.
The creator emphasized that her objection was not primarily about money or how long the advertisement remained active — it was about the unauthorized alteration of her identity:
No paycheck, no brand, no opportunity, no partnership is worth making yourself feel smaller or less like yourself just to be more marketable.
Be sure to check out the full story from catonmainstreet_ on Instagram.
Pin & Pop Accuses App of Using Content Without Authorization
The dispute follows a separate accusation from Pin & Pop, another Disney pin-collecting database and trading service, earlier this year regarding content allegedly used by the Pin Trading App without authorization.
In an email sent to its community, Pin & Pop said a user alerted the company that information and data originating from its platform appeared to be present in a new pin-trading app.
“We have not granted permission for Pin & Pop’s content, data, images, or proprietary information to be copied, reproduced, or used by this app,” Pin & Pop stated.
Although the email did not name the Pin Trading App directly, it linked to an image hosted on the app’s CloudFront storage as an example of the alleged unauthorized use.
“We respect fair competition and innovation within the hobby, but we also expect our content and data rights to be honored,” the company wrote.
As evidence, Pin & Pop provided two links connected to the same pin. One pointed to an externally hosted “enhanced” image. The other led to Pin & Pop’s listing for the Fantasy Pin Series Megara Winter Clothes pin. Both URLs used the identification number 109973.
Interestingly, the image URL has since been delisted, and the Megara Winter Clothes pin is now conspicuously absent from the Pin Trading App following the email notice.
Pin Images Appear to Confirm AI-Assisted Editing
Additional comparisons reviewed by WDWNT further suggest that the Pin Trading App has used automated or generative editing tools when adding images to its inventory. While the use of AI tools for image processing is not inherently problematic, the comparisons outlined below demonstrate a pattern that the Pin Trading App is actively pulling source imagery without credit from external sources—Disney official or otherwise—and leveraging AI to adjust the images for its inventory.
The comparisons involve three pins from the Tokyo Disneyland Inspired Park Signs collection. In each example, the original photograph shared by the official Tokyo Disneyland Instagram account shows a person holding the pin between their fingers. The corresponding Pin Trading App image presents the same pin isolated against a white background, with the fingers and original setting removed.
Numerous minute details—including reflections, highlights, surface textures, and irregularities in the metal, some of which we noted with circular outlines—appear in precisely the same places in both versions. This strongly indicates that the app images were derived from the original photographs rather than being independently photographed examples of the same pins.
The areas previously obscured by the person’s fingers also appear to have been digitally reconstructed. Although conventional editing software can remove backgrounds and objects, the synthesized portions, altered contours, and smoothed textures are consistent with the use of AI-assisted removal or generative-fill tools.
It would be possible for two photographs of the same manufactured pin to share its basic design and physical imperfections. Independently photographed pins, however, would not ordinarily produce identical patterns of reflected light across numerous small areas, especially when supposedly photographed against different backgrounds.
Across all three comparisons, the Pin Trading App versions retain the exact lighting characteristics of the original photographs while removing the fingers and replacing the backgrounds. They also carry the Pin Trading App watermark despite appearing to derive from previously existing images. Taken together, all of this further supports allegations that the company has used AI-assisted editing on media it did not originate while presenting the resulting images as part of its own branded database.
Users Allege Their Images Were Copied and Watermarked
Members of the pin-trading community have made more specific accusations about the source of the app’s images.
In a June 2026 Reddit post, one user said photographs they personally uploaded to Pin & Pop later appeared in the Pin Trading App. The user alleged that the images had been given Pin Trading App watermarks even though neither the photographer nor Pin & Pop authorized their use. The user said they reported the affected listings through the app. When they checked the following day, they could no longer use its search function. Other commenters believed the user had been blocked as a consequence of their report.
Similar allegations appeared in a July discussion on the DisneyPins subreddit. One commenter accused the Pin Trading App of copying photographs from competing databases and placing its own watermark on them.
An earlier Reddit discussion about the app’s influencer marketing included complaints about alleged AI use, repeated direct-message promotions, repackaged Disney news posts, and partnerships that some users believed were not adequately disclosed.
Pin Trading App Has Used WDWNT Content Without Permission
WDWNT has its own history with the Pin Trading App’s unauthorized use of media and reporting.
The Pin Trading App has repeatedly published WDWNT photographs without our permission and posted content that plagiarized stories originally reported and written by WDWNT.
We attempted to contact those behind the account regarding the unauthorized use of our work but received no response.
WDWNT also submitted multiple reports to Instagram regarding the account’s infractions involving our content. The account was taken down on multiple occasions following those reports, though it has later returned to the platform.
These incidents predate the allegations made by catonmainstreet_ and add to the concerns raised by Pin & Pop and other members of the Disney pin-trading community about how the Pin Trading App obtains, modifies, credits, and republishes material created by others.
About the Pin Trading App
The Pin Trading App is officially listed as “Pin Trading – Scan & Collect” and is operated by Evergreen Apps LLC.
It advertises a database of more than 150,000 Disney pins, along with tools for identifying pins, estimating their values, creating collection boards, and maintaining lists of available and wanted pins.
The service offers 30 free scans before restricting users’ access to a monthly subscription for $14.99 or a yearly subscription for $39.99.
At the time of writing, WDWNT could not locate a public statement from the Pin Trading App or Evergreen Apps addressing catonmainstreet_’s allegations, the claims made by Pin & Pop, or the company’s previous use of WDWNT content.
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The post Disney Pin Trading App Uses AI to Alter Woman’s Appearance Without Permission for Ad, Constantly Stealing Photos & Stories from Others appeared first on WDW News Today.
