Chinese cartoonist slams Twitter for refusing Tiananmen emoji

Chinese artist Badiucao, whose anonymous political satire infuriated Beijing and earned him comparisons to Banksy, on Thursday announced a protest campaign against Twitter over what he says is its pandering to China.

This is the second time the social media giant has come under fire in the last week over its handling of China-related content, after it apologised for mistakenly suspending accounts critical of Beijing -- just days ahead of the 30th anniversary of the brutal Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The 33-year-old Badiucao said he reached out to Twitter ahead of the anniversary and offered to create a special tank man emoji that would appear next to the hashtag #Tiananmen30.

Such emojis have been deployed on Twitter to mark a variety of special occasions and events, from the premieres of Hollywood blockbusters to national elections.

But the platform -- which is blocked in China -- told Badiucao it would not be able to collaborate with him on this anniversary because "emojis are limited resources at Twitter," according to an email exchange the artist shared with AFP.

"I was a bit confused," Badiucao told AFP. "How come they are a limited resource? I asked them if they had not enough graphic designers... or if it was a financial issue. I wasn't satisfied with their explanation that the decision was just routine."
"They are thinking about the Chinese market, they want these advertisements from businesses for the company. So somehow they compromise their principles of free speech."