According to a New York Times report, on Thursday, the U.S. government’s General Services Administration (GSA) removed the spoon emoji as an option that users of its videoconferencing platform can select to express themselves.
The move comes a day after workers embraced the digital cutlery to protest the Trump administration’s “Fork in the Road” resignation offer.
𓊤
⠀⠀⢀⣀⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠙⠻⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠛⠿⣿⣿⣿⣦⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠙⢿⣿⣿⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠻⣿⣷⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⢿⣿⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⣿⣧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⣿⣷⣤⣀⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣏⠹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢻⡄⠙⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⡀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⢻⣦⡈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠻⣶⣤⣙⣻⣿⣿⠏⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠛⠋⠁⠀⠀
o—
—Ð (I figure they may need a shovel now)
I miss ascii art! Back in IRC days when bandwidth was not great we could have really used the efficiency of emojis. Instead, you got sent a wall of text that looked like something and your entire internet slowed down for a minute.
So I guess… censorship?
This is Winnie the Pooh stuff.
Why do these government agencies keep complying in advance? Why are they giving ground in little ways for nothing? Is some of the GSA leadership loyal to Trump?
It’s an executive branch department of which the president is the head.
No, that’s reductive BS. The GSA is an independent agency of the federal government:
[T]he term refers only to those independent agencies that, while considered part of the executive branch, have regulatory or rulemaking authority and are insulated from presidential control, usually because the president’s power to dismiss the agency head or a member is limited.
Established through separate statutes passed by Congress, each respective statutory grant of authority defines the goals the agency must work towards, as well as what substantive areas, if any, over which it may have the power of rulemaking. These agency rules (or regulations), when in force, have the power of federal law.
The president DOES NOT have the power to fire people from this agency, nor change its rules without involving congress. Congress made this agency, and the president’s job is to oversee its administration. Despite being the head of the executive branch, the president doesn’t have direct authority over the GSA.
Who appoints the leadership?
The president does. Who makes the laws (including the law creating this department)?
The president does
Which is the answer to the question “Is some of the GSA leadership loyal to Trump?”
Reminds me of when Boeing removed the 🤡 a few years back because workers were shit-talking management on Teams. Removing emojis is petty nonsense. Maybe they feds should move from spoon 🥄 to 🤡 until that gets banned.
Showing profound levels of insecurity here.
Take away the spoon, you’re telling them it’s time to use a knife. Is that really how you want it to go?
👨🚀🔫👨🚀
When they fork with your spoon… They push you to consider the knife.
Whats the name of this character? I vaguely remember it from childhood in Russia lol
The Tick
Okay. Why? Why have emojis at all? Why just ban one?
Bunch of spoons.
They use the spoon as a protest against the “fork in the road” email.
🔪
🔵🐚
🥄
wtf
🥄🥣🍴🗡️🍽️🍴
They throw out the spoons, the workers will have to turn to knives
