Like many, you probably use emojis on social networks. But beware if you see this picto in user names, because it hides a dark business, immoral and illegal …
The emojis gradually imposed themselves in written language, both in our friendly exchanges and in the professional environment. Present on instant messaging (Whatsapp, Messenger, Telegram, etc.), collaborative tools (Teams, Slack, etc.), mail services (Gmail, Outlook, etc.), social networks and keyboards of mobile devices, these small icons allow us to more easily transmit our emotions or our ideas in writing.
But if some have a rather obvious meaning, others can however hide a double meaning. This is for example the case of eggplant emojis, fishing, banana or cherry that have strong sexual connotations. Likewise, other symbols are used to talk about drugs: maple leaf for cannabis, snowflake for cocaine, hilarious gas ball, etc.
On social networks, the hidden meaning of emojis is a real mode of communication that allows Internet users to exchange while remaining under radars. Also, it often happens that we fell in front of more than problematic accounts without realizing it. This is for example the case with the nicknames containing an emoji pizza. A symbol in appearance completely harmless, but which actually serves as an indicator for sexual predators to detect accounts diffuse child pornographic content.
This disturbing phenomenon is raging on social networks, in particular on Tiktok, so much so that it has benefited from an alert of the national police services attached to Pharos, the platform which makes it possible to carry out reports of violent or illegal content on the Internet. “Many of you tell us […] Accounts, with an emoji pizza in their nickname, highlighting images of minor girls, sometimes in suggestive poses “says a officio.
This type of content is not illegal in itself, but it plays on the Tiktok algorithm, which moderates the most sensitive content. This allows “amateurs” of this type of photo or videos to recognize themselves and then exchange content, this time really child pornography, via other more “negligent” channels in terms of moderation, such as Telegram.
But why pizza? Because it is a cheese pizza, a “cheese pizza”, whose initials are “CP”, the same as for “child porn” (“child pornography” in French). The trend is imported from the United States and it spreads very quickly in France.
Also, if you come across accounts of this kind, do not ignore them, but report them on the Pharos platform. After analysis, the national police will then be able to investigate, in particular by requesting information from the social networks concerned. Last January, an individual was thus arrested for the sale of this content and 77 buyers were identified and prosecuted.