When Facebook introduced 100 new emoticons meant to describe how users were feeling, a full 99 percent of them were met with nary a yawn—except one…an emoticon for “I feel fat,” struck a chord with some of its users.
More than 16,000 signed a Change.org petition asking the social media giant to remove the emoticon.
“This issue is so important because being a young person, Facebook is kind of the way we live,” says Catherine Weingarten, a playwright. “For me, when I see the words ‘I feel fat,’ it takes me back to when I was struggling, and I don’t want people to not take it seriously. When people see that on Facebook, I want them to realize that it’s not just a light, cute sort of thing for everyone.”
Though Facebook originally defended the emoticon, it agreed finally to take it down. “We’ll continue to listen to feedback as we think about ways to help people express themselves on Facebook,” a spokesperson said through a statement. (People)