As part of World Emoji Day on Monday, Apple released a sneak peek at some new emojis set to be released later this year. The emojis included a breastfeeding woman and a Muslim woman wearing a head scarf.
However, the hijab emoji, rather predictably, set off a wave of backlash from people, who had complaints ranging from the idea that this was a sign of “creeping Sharia” law to the idea that Apple’s use of the emoji was “normalizing” the oppression of Muslim women.
the hijab is a symbol of oppression. by including it as an emoji you are showing your support for the oppression of women.
— Joeymp (@joeymp123) July 17, 2017
In fact, one user tweeted Apple CEO Tim Cook directly.
“The hijab is a symbol of oppression,” wrote Twitter user @joeymp123. “By including it as an emoji you are showing your support for the oppression of women.”
As you can imagine, there were plenty of other examples of blatant Islamophobia in the comments online.
https://twitter.com/1RTFULDODGER/status/886991090158620674
Any beheading Emoji?
— José Roberto (@jrwwagner) July 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/rickthe_elder/status/887010743018602496
Happy #WorldEmojiDay! Meet the 15-year-old girl who helped create the hijab emoji. pic.twitter.com/9uzH93SQiM
— AJ+ (@ajplus) July 17, 2017