Facebook and Instagram Banning Peach And Eggplant Emojis Used Sexually

October 29, 2019
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Facebook and Instagram are continuing their crackdown on content people care about by banning the sexual use of the peach and eggplant emojis. The guidelines surrounding the ban are somewhat amorphous, but certainly the people who will be affected most are sex workers. And of course naked chefs. The policy is about as commital as Mark Zuckerberg at a Senate hearing. Here's what the folks at Insta had to say to The New York Post:

[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.

What exactly constitutes as a sex chat conversation? Will Instagram be able to tell when people are joking, rather seriously soliciting sex? Probably not, and it probably doesn't matter for you unless you're in the sex industry. Some people are speculating that this is all just to dissuade sex workers from using Facebook and Instagram, and to give the platforms even more grounds on which to ban people they deem too racy. Facebook Inc. is really casting a wide net with the latest guidelines, which also ban, according to the Post:

Nude photos where emojis cover genitalia, butts or female nipples are also now formally not allowed, as are any links or info leading to pornographic or otherwise adult material.

Honestly I'm just so glad that finally sex work and social media will be separate.