The supposed new Apple emoji has sparked controversy. The unofficial emoji appears to show the LGBTQ+ flag with the “no” symbol on top of it. Many Apple users saw this appear all over their social media, believing that it was an official anti-LGBTQ+ symbol produced by Apple but in reality it was just a glitch.
The emoji first appeared in a tweet made by a Twitter user. This lead to backlash and many Twitter users questioned Apple’s choice of producing this controversial emoji. While it may appear on a iPhone screen as an emoji produced by Apple, it was actually a glitch.
The emoji is just a mere glitch in the “no” symbols unicode. A unicode is an international encoding standard for use with different languages and scripts, by which each letter, digit, or symbol is assigned a unique numeric value that applies across different platforms and programs.
If you simply copy and paste the symbols unicode on top of an already existing emoji, it will produce a “no” symbol over any random emoji you choose to use. This glitch also does not work with any other devices such as laptops or other non Apple products.
Many students at C.K.M. noticed the emoji floating around their social medias. However, the glitch did not appear on everyone’s devices.
“I was first confused and I thought the tweets by the LGBTQ+ community on Twitter were hilarious because I thought it was being used among us for humor purposes. However, then actual homophobic people started to use it and I was worried that the glitch would be used as a way for homophobic people to say their hateful opinions” said Natalie Tembly (‘19).
A spokesperson for Twitter released a statement regarding the issue, “The way the emoji appears is due to Unicode presentation on iOS, and on its own is not a violation of our rules. However, if a user is targeted with this kind of emoji, and we have context that the intention is to shame, degrade, or harass based on membership (or perceived membership) in a protected category, we will action under our Hateful Conduct policies.”