The "eggplant" and "peach" emojis that are popularly exchanged to symbolise male genitalia and buttocks in a sexual connotation have made it to the list of banned emoticons on Facebook, as well as its photo-messaging app Instagram.
The move, which is aimed at curbing "sexual solicitation" on social media platforms, has stimulated hilarious reactions from netizens on Twitter, who also questioned the social networking giant about its move to ban religious, racist, and politically inappropriate content from its apps.
According to the new rules concerning the online code of conduct, Facebook and Instagram prohibit users from posting sexually explicit content on their profiles, as well as from indulging in sexually inappropriate chats.
Facebook's decision comes even though numerous artists from all over the world have participated in protests, demanding the allowance of "artistic nudity" on the major social networking platforms.
Earlier, in June, nearly 100 people stripped in front of Facebook's New York headquarters, holding pictures of nipples in their hands and demanding that the social media giant let them depict nudity in their artwork on the platform. The campaign was outlandishly titled #WeTheNipple.
Another protest in June saw international porn artists gathering outside Instagram's Silicon Valley headquarters, describing Facebook's nudity censorship rules and those of its family of apps "vague, inconsistent and threatening to their livelihood".