The European Union is pushing for a crackdown on emojis online, arguing that their use can cover up speech it considers illegal.
A commission report claims that tech companies have already deployed technology aimed at automatically detecting such “illegal” emoji use, describing the images as representing as “systemic risk”.
“An emoji isn’t always just an emoji,” the body wrote on social media, claiming that some uses of the pictograms represent attempts to sell drugs online.
The body also links emoji use to hate speech, citing a claim by Facebook and Instagram-owner Meta that they can be used to cloak so-called “hate speech” from digital censors.
“Threat actors continue to explore ways to avoid detection and enforcement by using coded language with emojis and slurs, avoiding certain phrases, or other strategies which can make it challenging for technology to detect potential violations,” the cited “risk assessment”, which is required under EU law, claims.
“As the types of content and terms used for hate speech are frequently changing, consistently detecting and enforcing against hate speech remains challenging.”
The crackdown comes amid calls for the EU to restrict online access even further through the use of social media bans and digital ID.
Ireland is expected to spearhead these censorship efforts, with the government repeatedly emphasising that tightening various EU digital regulations will be high on the agenda once its European Council presidency begins in July.