Apple’s new racially diverse emojis are being used by bigots online

[Jazzy]

Good intentions can sometimes have bad consequences, which may be the case for the new racially diverse Apple emojis.

A lot of iOS users were pleased with the introduction of the different colour tones in last week’s update but just a short while later there have been complaints people are using them in a racist manner.

‘The emoji are being used to make racist comments on social media and insert questions of race in texts and tweets where it may never have arisen before,’ Paige Tutt wrote in the Independent.

She added: ‘Instead of correcting its mistake — excluding people of color from emoji — Apple has, in some ways, made the situation worse.’

The writer argued as well as being used in racist messages, the emojis also unintentionally put race at the forefront.

‘What Apple has done is introduce race into everyday conversations where it doesn’t necessarily need to be,’ she wrote.

Tutt’s conclusion was Apple should never have introduced race into emojis as it made communicating even more complicated, as well as giving bigots other weapons to use online.

Metro.co.uk has contacted Apple for a comment.

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