‘Sexual’ use of eggplant and peach emojis banned on Facebook, Instagram

The endless cycle continues... Sex sells, and has always been a big, if unspoken or understated, factor in the rise of these social media platforms. But then they reach critical mass, and the puritanical purges start...

I'm so impressed at Zuckerberg's commitment to free speech. Such bravery in the face of adversity! /s

I'm not really sure what group they're catering to here. Everyone who is at least 12 years old knows what those emoji mean. My guess is they must be doing this in order to help protect women from sexual harassment. What they're really doing here is trying to ban an entire way of thinking. That's just not going to happen.

> The Facebook Community Standards language is quite broad, not naming the emojis specifically but referring to “[commonly used] sexual emojis or emoji strings” as criteria which qualify as “Suggestive Elements.”

> “[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”

> “We aren’t taking action on simply the emojis.”

> Nude photos where emojis cover genitalia, butts or female nipples are also now formally not allowed

Does this apply to private chats? Because I'll send these in a joking way to my girlfriend and some of my other friends. I know that Facebook messenger parses chats and won't allow porn site links and torrent magnet links to go through.