On Tuesday, Elon Musk took to X to mock tech companies that are too “woke” to feature a realistic gun emoji. In his post, Musk highlighted Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Facebook, and X, showcasing the evolution of emojis from 2013 to the present.
Musk’s post illustrates a shift from relatively realistic gun emojis in 2013 to designs resembling Nerf toys or paintball guns over the past 11 years.
The exception is the gun emoji on X, which initially resembled a revolver but transitioned to a Nerf gun during the mid-Jack Dorsey era. After Musk acquired the platform, the emoji reverted to a more realistic design.
Currently, the X gun emoji depicts a 1911 pistol, one of the most iconic handguns ever.
Nerfing of the gun emoji matches rise of the woke mind virus, as a core tenet is equating fake harm with real harm pic.twitter.com/Mhx2HjcES9
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 20, 2024
Musk’s post highlights that by 2017, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and Facebook had all replaced their gun emojis with Nerf-like designs.
He criticized this trend as a result of the “woke mind virus,” which he claims equates simulated harm with actual harm.
