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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Google redesigns its emoji to be more universal and authentic [theverge.com]

Google is tweaking 992 of its emoji designs to make them more "universal, accessible, and authentic," the company announced today [blog.google]. The new designs will arrive this fall alongside Android 12, but Google says they'll also be available on older versions with apps that use its Appcompat compatibility layer. They're also coming to other Google platforms like Gmail, Chrome OS, Google Chat, and YouTube Live Chat this month.

[...] [The] bikini emoji no longer looks like it's being worn by an invisible person, and the face mask emoji now shows a face with its eyes open. Google says it made this change to reflect the fact that masks have become "a universal way of showing kindness to others" rather than a symbol of someone being sick.

[...] If you're wondering why we've seen such a flurry of emoji news over the past couple of days, it's because this year's World Emoji Day lands tomorrow, July 17th.

Related: Google CEO Drops Everything to Fix Cheeseburger Emoji [soylentnews.org]
Microsoft Briefly Left Holding the Gun Emoji [soylentnews.org]
Unicode Consortium Adding 230 New Emojis in Emoji 12.0 [soylentnews.org]

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