Tech giant Apple has become embroiled in a controversy in the US over a pregnant man emoji. The company is facing some flak from the Republicans who have criticised Apple for the particular emoji, as per a report by Business Insider. Several Republicans have reportedly tweeted about the pregnant man emoji with sarcasm, making their displeasure felt.
Apple made the new emoji available as part of the new beta version of the iOS 15.4 update. However, the pregnant man emoji may not be referring to a straight man, but could be inspired from transgender men and non-binary people.
“The decision to include the emojis was made by the Unicode Consortium, a non-profit industry body that regulates how characters display online, including the release of new emojis. Jeremy Burge, the founder of Emojipedia who sits in some Unicode meetings, wrote in July 2021 that the new symbols reflect that “pregnancy is possible for some transgender men and non-binary people,” said the report.
This comes after Apple is already facing a slew of supporters of Fortnite maker Epic Games. Late last year, a US court ruled somewhat in Apple’s favour and Epic Games appealed against it. Epic has got support from several quarters, including the US Attorney General. And now Microsoft has joined Epic’s fight against Apple.
“If Apple is allowed to step between any company with online services and users of iPhones, few areas of the vast mobile economy will be safe from Apple’s interference and eventual dominance,” added Microsoft in an amicus brief in support of Epic Games, according to a report by AppleInsider.