Digiday Publishing Summit

Connect with execs from Axios, The New York Times, Paramount and more.

VIEW PASSES

Facebook rolls out 1,500 new ‘diverse’ emojis for Messenger

Facebook’s emoji for Messenger are becoming more diverse and less sexist.

Tomorrow, the chat app is rolling out a 1,500 new emojis on the chat app including the ability to let users customize the emojis’ skin color, placing it in line with Unicode Consortium’s standards.

Other changes include new red-headed emojis and more female police officers and doctors and more. That move comes a month after a group of Google employees pushed the Unicode Consortium to make the emojis more gender inclusive in its next update.

“We’re diversifying the genders to create a more balanced mix that’s more representative of our world,” Facebook said.

Technically, the change also means Facebook Messengers will now see a uniform set of emojis; prior to this, the emojis appeared inconsistently and would often revert to the emojis seen on their operating systems.

It’s the latest enhancement to Facebook Messenger, which has 900 million monthly users, including debuting new chat bots to ensure people spend more time (and money) within the app.

More in Media

Inside the newsroom push to turn print reporters into video talent

As reporter-led video becomes a priority, publishers are investing in newsroom training to help journalists deepen audience relationships.

WTF is SPUR’s publisher-run Content Telemetry Framework?

SPUR is publisher‑run and fixated on one thing: turning AI’s use of their content from opaque scraping into a transparent, usage‑based licensing system they control. 

How streaming creators built a new broadcast blueprint at the World Cup

Livestreaming creators offer new ways to broadcast sports to diverse audiences; this 2026 FIFA World Cup may be the new blueprint for leagues