Binance releases swastika-like emoji and is ‘cancelled’ on Twitter

3 min read

Binance has released a new emoji to symbolize its brand and also that of Binance Coin (BNB). However, the symbol was heavily criticized because of its close resemblance to the swastika, symbol of Nazi Germany.

And the design wasn’t the emoji’s only issue, but also its release date of Wednesday, April 20th. After all, this was the same date as the birth of Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany and the main organizer of the Holocaust.

The design and its release timing had a strong backlash on Twitter, prompting Binance to apologize and remove the emoji from its bio. At the same time, users of the social network took the opportunity to recall other dubious campaigns launched by the exchange in the past.

Historical error

The launch took place on Wednesday (20), when the emoji was posted on the exchange’s official Twitter. It has four arms with squares at the ends, which should simulate connections in a network. In the center, inside a square, is the traditional Binance logo.

New Binance Emoji Has Been Compared to Nazi Symbol Source: Twitter.

Apparently, Binance’s marketing team released the new emoji without carefully considering how people might interpret it. And in fact, the interpretation was unanimous, as the company was practically “canceled” on Twitter after the disclosure.

Initially, the controversial icon appeared whenever someone typed the hashtag #binance on Twitter. Realizing the error in the design, Binance soon proceeded to delete the emoji and replace it. In this way, the new icon is a terrestrial globe with the exchange logo engraved inside.

In the face of the negative repercussion, Binance justified itself regarding the case. Without apologizing for the error, the exchange confirmed the removal of the icon and its exchange.

Well that was obviously really embarrassing.

We’re not sure how that emoji got through several layers of review without anyone noticing, but we immediately flagged the issue, pulled it down, and the new emoji design is being rolled out as we speak.

— Binance (@binance) April 20, 2022

Controversy with the swastika

In its origin, the swastika is a mystical symbol found in many cultures and religions at different times. Before its adoption by Nazism, the symbol was worshiped by the Hopi Indians, the Aztecs, the Celts, Buddhists, Greeks, and above all the Hindus. The symbol has records from 5,000 years ago.

However, the image that made the swastika infamous was created by Adolf Hitler in the 1920s and became a symbol of Nazism. This swastika has the arms pointing clockwise, i.e. going to the right. During the power years of the Third Reich, the swastika became a symbol of the “Aryan identity”, the pure race defended by the Nazis.

Making it even more “embarrassing”, the emoji was released on Hitler’s birthday. The date of April 20 is also an important day for cannabis users, because of the number 420 (the date is written 4/20 in the American format).

This was not the first controversial case involving Binance and the Nazi regime. Users recalled a campaign carried out in 2017, where the exchange carried out a distribution of the Gas token. In the photo, the exchange highlights the acronym GAS within a Star of David.

The star is the symbol of the Jewish religion, and the presence of the acronym alludes to the gas chambers used to execute around 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. Of course, the ad was seen as in extreme bad taste and disrespectful to Jews. THE original tweet was removed, but the image remains.