The new rules come under Section 16 of Community Standards of Facebook, under 'Sexual Solicitation'. "We draw the line, however, when content facilitates, encourages or coordinates sexual encounters between adults," the introduction of the section states.
According to the new guidelines, offering or asking for sex chats or conversations, sexual partners or nude imagery by using sexual emojis or emoji strings would be considered "explicit sexual solicitation".
Users violating the rules could have their post removed and repeated use can result in the account being deactivated.
While the eggplant emoji is used to suggest male genitalia, a peach resembles buttocks and the dripping water emoji is suggestively used to depict ejaculation.
However, the emojis can be used if they are NOT being used in a playful manner to offer or seek sexual solicitation.
The ban is said to impact sex workers and porn stars who use social media platforms to advertise their services.
The ban can also affect other users who use the emojis to joke or talk about sex.
Meanwhile, social media users are ridiculing Facebook for banning the emojis but not doing anything about racist, communal and sexist content being posted on the platforms.
Interestingly, this is not the first time that there has been a war on emojis. In 2015, Instagram had blocked the eggplant emoji from its search as it violated their community guidelines.
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