Be careful what you emoji - this is the tech advice of the day, as news breaks that Apple, Facebook and Google have clubbed together to force a ban on a particular new emoji making it onto your keyboard.
Recently, a French man was arrested for sending a threatening message to his girlfriend in emoji form.
The girl, who was a minor at the time, received the pistol icon, after the pair had broken up, leading her to fear for her safety should she bump into him.
The 22-year-old man was handed a six month sentence, with three months suspended.
The recent vote, which saw members of the Unicode Consortium, represented by Google, Facebook and Apple, was held to decide on whether the addition of a rifle icon was appropriate.
The rifle icon was submitted in order to represent rifle-use as a sporting activity, but considering the recent shooting in Orlando was carried out using an AR-15 assault rifle, it seems particularly insensitive to be adding it to the roster of emojis available.
Interestingly, though, the pistol emoji will still be available, despite its lack of sporting association.
Apple have chosen not to include the knife or gun emoji on its Mac OS keyboard.
Natasha Bird is the Former Executive Editor (Digital) of ELLE.
