PEOPLE are using emoji as secret codewords on social media to talk about controversial or illegal stuff without being caught.
Sites like Facebook use sophisticated AI to automatically detect anything untoward.
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But cunning users are increasingly swapping words for emoji to trick the system.
The technique has been dubbed “algospeak”.
The corn emoji is one such example, which has been used to secretly point people in the direction of porn.
But some uses are far more sinister, as Forbes reports.
The ninja emoji is apparently used to replace derogatory terms and hate speech towards black people.
And it’s not just about using emoji either.
Some are using completely different written terms entirely to dupe detection systems.
Sick paedos use a popular food to avoid being caught when trying to exchange child abuse images.
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“One of the areas that we’re all most concerned about is child exploitation and human exploitation,” Siobhan Hanna, from AI data firm Telus International, told Forbes.
“(It’s) one of the fastest-evolving areas of algospeak.”
Meanwhile, Americans wanting to discuss controversial abortion laws will instead use “camping”.
It comes as a similar strategy used by anti-vaxxers was exposed last week.
Instead of words like “Covid-19” or “vaccine” which would set the social network’s alarms off, they’ve been using the carrot emoji.
This allowed users to share unverified posts under the radar, claiming people had been injured or killed after their jab.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
