Apple, Facebook and Google ban rifle emoji from Olympics update

Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft have joined forces to stop a rifle emoji from being added to the catalogue of images available to their users on their smartphones.

The new emoji was due to join the keyboard line-up in an update this month. But members of the Unicode Consortium, which is responsible for regulating emoji, voted unanimously to remove it in a move the body described as "bizarre and unusual".

Apple led the decision, according to BuzzFeed, and was supported by all 12 technology giants that are voting members of Unicode, including Facebook, Google and Microsoft. The pistol emoji will still be available, but Apple said it wouldn't add the rifle to its services.

The decision to block the rifle from being added in the update isn't a trivial matter. Earlier this year a man in France was sentenced to three months in prison for sending his ex-girlfriend a "death threat in the form on an image", otherwise known as the pistol emoji.

While the pistol emoji has no sporting connection, the rifle emoji was proposed to "represent shooting as a sport", including hunting and marksmanship, according to a submission to Unicode, which is how new icons are added.

This isn't the first time that Silicon Valley companies have blocked new emoji from their keyboards.

Apple doesn't include the knife and gun emoji on its macOS keyboard, while Microsoft has previously included a middle finger when other companies haven't.

The rifle was set to be added to the roster of emojis as part of an Olympic-themed group of icons, which includes swimming, fencing, gymnastics and karate.

Fingers crossed, face palm, shrug and hand shake emoji will also be added along with new animals and foods in the Unicode 9.0 that features 72 new emoji.

In the last round of additions, Unicode added a cheese emoji, unicorn and burrito.