Unicode will no longer accept proposals for new flag emoji

Hoping to skirt both the inefficiencies and geopolitics involved in digitizing national symbols, the Unicode Consortium, the Silicon Valley nonprofit that makes emoji available to the world, said it will no longer entertain ideas for new emoji based on flag designs.

“The Unicode Consortium isn’t in the business of determining what is a country and what isn’t,” writes Jennifer Daniel, chair of Unicode’s emoji subcommittee, in a March 28 blog post. “If the Emoji Subcommittee recommends the addition of a Catalonia flag emoji, then it looks like favoritism unless all the other subdivisions of Spain are added. And if those are added, what about the subdivisions of Japan or Namibia, or the Cantons of Liechtenstein? The inclusion of new flags will always continue to emphasize the exclusion of others.”

In an email to Quartz, Daniel expounded on the technical challenge involved in accurately implementing country flags. “Flags are super hard to discern at emoji sizes and it’s quite easy to send a different flag than you intended,” says Daniel, an illustrator and creative director at Google.

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