Apple is responsible for nixing the rifle emoji from the latest unicode update, according to Buzzfeed News. The report stated that the decision was made at Unicode, an organization that oversees emois, during its last quarterly meeting in May.
According to “sources in the room,” Apple “led and championed” the conversation to remove the rifle emoji from the Unicode 9.0 release, after declaring that the company would not support a rifle emoji on its iOS or macOS platforms.
Due to the recent tragic events that occurred in Orlando, it is no surprise that Apple and many other tech companies are not in favor of a new rifle emoji. That said, the emoji did not aim to communicate ill intent — the rifle was a part of a set of Olympics-themed emojis ahead of this year’s summer games at the host city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
A representative from Microsoft supposedly supported Apple’s position on the subject. Although there is still a “number” corresponding to the rifle in the Unicode 9.0 release, there will be no graphical representation of it. Also nixed was the modern pentathlon, which supposedly featured a figure shooting a gun.
If you’re wondering who exactly is charge of this decision making, or who leaked to Buzzfeed News, you can check out the Unicode board of directors here. The directors include representatives from Apple, Twitter, Google, Microsoft, IBM and Intel.
