Twitter Launches Custom Emojis to Spread Awareness on Domestic Violence Against Women

Twitter has launched custom emojis to spread awareness on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25 and Human Rights Day on December 10. The new emojis are in partnership with UN Women and the UN Human Rights Office.

Twitter users will see emojis when they tweet with the hashtag #GenerationEquality, #OrangeTheWorld, #16Days, #HumanRightsDay, and other localized hashtags. You can take a look at the emoji in the tweet below:

Alongside the rollout, Twitter says that the company is supporting local nonprofits across the world by providing ‘Ads for Good grants’ to several partners. This way, nonprofits can make use of Twitter’s advertising platform to spread awareness to more people. The company also promises to amplify regional campaigns and messages about the importance of gender equality and combatting violence against women over the next 16 days.

In its blog post, Twitter notes that there have been at least 1 million tweets per month about domestic violence and related issues since the start of COVID-caused lockdown restrictions. In addition, citing the United Nations Population Fund, the company says that almost 15 million women are expected to be directly affected by violence every three months the lockdown continues.

Twitter is rolling out custom emojis on these aforesaid hashtags in a total of 24 countries including India, Mexico, Thailand, the UK, the US, and Australia. Twitter also rolled out dedicated gender-based violence #ThereIsHelp prompts in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy. With this feature, users will receive a notification with contact information from local hotlines and other resources to seek help.