Apple's latest hijab emoji causes Twitter frenzy
Many criticised Apple for deciding to launch separate emoji for Muslim women
PHOTO: APPLE
In honour of Monday’s World Emoji Day, Apple announced that it is working on a hijab emoji and will make it available to iPhone users by the end of this year, reported The Huffington Post.
As an attempt to allow iPhone users to fully express themselves without having to rely on century old tactics, the emoji has been in the works for some time now. Fifteen-year-old Rayouf Alhumedhi submitted a proposal to Unicode in September 2016, pointing out that there was no image that represented her.
The hijab emoji, however, is not the only new emoji that Apple is launching. According to an Apple press release, others include those for breastfeeding, a sandwich, as well as a T-Rex.
Twitteratti took this opportunity to ask Apple CEO Tim Cook for other emojis after he announced the upcoming ones on Twitter.
"The new Emojis make it easier for users to express themselves with greater diversity, additional animals and creatures, new smiley faces and more," Apple said in a statement.
Owing to the Islamophobic side of the audience, however, the announcement did not go without facing backlash. People expressed their disagreement over the fact that Apple might launch a separate emoji for Muslim women.
There isn’t an emoji for fear-mongering so they had to resort to other ways to get their points across, according to RawStory.
Others were much more accepting and appreciated the emojis as a way to cater to a more diverse global population.
As an attempt to allow iPhone users to fully express themselves without having to rely on century old tactics, the emoji has been in the works for some time now. Fifteen-year-old Rayouf Alhumedhi submitted a proposal to Unicode in September 2016, pointing out that there was no image that represented her.
The hijab emoji, however, is not the only new emoji that Apple is launching. According to an Apple press release, others include those for breastfeeding, a sandwich, as well as a T-Rex.
Twitteratti took this opportunity to ask Apple CEO Tim Cook for other emojis after he announced the upcoming ones on Twitter.
"The new Emojis make it easier for users to express themselves with greater diversity, additional animals and creatures, new smiley faces and more," Apple said in a statement.
Owing to the Islamophobic side of the audience, however, the announcement did not go without facing backlash. People expressed their disagreement over the fact that Apple might launch a separate emoji for Muslim women.
There isn’t an emoji for fear-mongering so they had to resort to other ways to get their points across, according to RawStory.
Others were much more accepting and appreciated the emojis as a way to cater to a more diverse global population.