Facebook recently took upon itself to adopt a rather formal stance against online sexual solicitation. In an attempt to get more of a grip on the issue, the social media giant quickly updated its Community Standards and with this, came the decision of banning the use of certain emoji on both Facebook as well as Instagram.
Specifically, Facebook has banned the use of both of the eggplant as well as the peach emoji as both these two have been used alongside various sorts of sexual content. The updated Facebook Community Standards has not actually acknowledged the emoji by any names, rather, it has referred to “[commonly used] sexual emoji” as the subject in question.
Hence many thought that with these recent developments, it would mean that if the content that is featured within a users account falls under the vague criteria that Facebook has laid out in its Community Standards, the account in question can either be flagged or even removed. However, Instagram wasted no time in clarifying the whole process. As per Instagram, the content “will only be removed from Facebook and Instagram if it contains a sexual emoji alongside an implicit or indirect ask for nude imagery, sex or sexual partners, or sex chat conversations.”
All in all, Facebook has said recently that the goal isn’t taking action against the emoji, rather, the new initiative is targeting nudity and sexual conversation of all sorts.
Hence, the only definitive exception to the new policy is when the content in question goes on to draw attention to sexual violence and exploitation. What this means is that even some of the more popular memes and gifs that feature on the internet might be subject to being flagged – or worse, even banned.
