‘Loudly Crying Face’: Study reveals Europe’s most endangered emojis

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What do the Dodo, the Pyrenean ibex and the hope that Kanye West can stop spouting hateful comments and actually make good music again?  

That’s right: they’re all extinct.  

But did you know that something else might soon be joining the list of the defunct? Emojis.  

According to a recent report by Superside, several emojis are on the brink of disappearing. 

The study, titled: “The Emoji Report: Which emojis are going extinct?”, analyses the usage and search volume of the top 100 emojis worldwide, using software Keyword Tool. It concludes that some of the emoticons which were once all the rage – and gave us one of the worst films of the 21st century, 2017’s The Emoji Movie – are now going to go the way of dots and dashes.  

Superside discovered that 14 emojis have seen a decrease in global usage, and that everything is not OK for the ‘okay hand symbol’, which tops the endangered list. It has dropped 66 places in popularity rankings since 2013.  

The ‘flushed face’ takes the second spot, followed by the ‘person raising both hands in celebration’.

On a global level, the US, UK and Slovakia have the ‘smirking face’ as their most endangered emoji, whereas across Europe, the ‘face screaming in fear’ emoji is slowly disappearing. France and Germany lead the way when it comes to waving goodbye to that Edvard Munch-looking graphic, which has seen a decline of almost 47 per cent in European countries. 

Ireland, Greece, Iceland and Czechia lead the divestment in the ‘okay hand symbol’.

So, what’s behind the decline in certain emoji use?  

Well, the dominance of newer emojis for a start, and also the unfortunate association of some emojis with hate groups. For instance, the emoji depciting a bag of money has been linked to anti-Semitism, while the aforementioned ‘okay hand symbol’ has been used by some online as a “sincere expression of white supremacy”, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The exclusively male North American far-right, neo-fascist militant organization The Proud Boys often use it during rallies.

The study also points out that a 2023 Statista survey found that 1/10 men said they’d never used emojis, compared to 1/20 women. A YouGov poll also discovered that emoji usage decreased as age increased, with 15% of those aged 65 and above reporting never using an emoji, compared to only 3% of respondents ages 18 to 44.   

There’s also the fact that Gen Z is increasingly finding the use of certain emojis quite cringe-worthy and “very millennial”. They either gravitate towards newer, more relatable ones, or avoid them altogether.

What about you? Do emojis give you the “ick” or are you ‘loudly crying face’ over ‘face screaming in fear’?

Additional sources • Superside