Microsoft has begun internal testing of a new custom emoji feature for the Microsoft Teams communications platform.Multiple sources speak The Verge Microsoft employees learned of the surprising new feature after the animated Pepe the Frog emoji, a meme with a troubled past, started appearing in reactions and messages in an early internal version of Microsoft Teams. .
The Pepe the Frog emoji, now widely used as a light-hearted response on Discord servers and Amazon’s Twitch streaming platform, has arrived alongside other custom emojis that don’t currently ship with Microsoft Teams. I hear Microsoft is testing a custom emoji feature in an early so-called “dog food” version of Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Teams currently supports GIFs through the Giphy service, but these are separate from the emoji panel that appears within video calls and chat messages on the service. If Microsoft decides to roll out this custom emoji feature to all Teams users, it doesn’t mean the Pepe the Frog meme will ship by default, it just adds the ability to add custom emojis. is. Approving and allowing new custom emojis is up to IT admins, similar to how Discord and Slack admins manage this.
The addition of Pepe the Frog to the internal version of Microsoft Teams came as a surprise to some employees, as this particular meme has had a troubled history. Although Pepe the Frog is widely and innocently used these days, this cartoon frog was also co-opted by white supremacists several years ago. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has added Pepe the Frog to its league. hate symbol database But the advocacy group has since teamed up with Pepe’s creator, Matt Furie, to support the #SavePepe campaign to take back symbols from those who use them with hateful intent.
Pepe is now more often used as a reaction meme rather than a hate symbol in Twitch chat. “Many of the Pepe the Frog memes are not bigoted in nature, so it’s important to consider using the meme only in context,” he said of the ADL. “The mere fact that someone posted a Pepe meme does not mean they are a racist or white supremacist.” Pepe’s life, death and rebirth explored in documentary feels good man.
Microsoft has not yet officially announced custom emojis for Microsoft Teams, and the feature is still in development. very Early testing. Microsoft confirmed that the highly requested feature has been available for some time. added to backlog Newly added 7 months ago. Considering that custom emojis have existed for years on competing platforms like Slack and Discord, there’s a good chance they’ll be available to all Microsoft Teams users at some point this year.
We reached out to Microsoft for comment, but the company did not respond in time for publication.