Here’s why your Twitter feed is filled with these red flag emojis

If you’ve spent any time on Twitter over the last couple of days, no doubt you’ve seen a bunch of posts using the red flag emoji quite liberally. As tends to happen on social media, the emoji has become the subject of a pretty major trend, with its use on the platform skyrocketing over the last couple of days.

So what does it mean? Twitter told CNET that it had seen a 455 percent increase in the use of the red flag emoji over the last week, but why has this particular emoji become so important all of a sudden?

It turns out that a trend has evolved over the last several days of people warning others on Twitter of potential “red flags.” From relationship warnings to general people you should stay away from, people have begun using the red flag emoji as a warning to other people, similar to the meaning of “red flag” in the real world.

https://twitter.com/inaflorescaa/status/1447741333574021124

The trend started earlier this week, with several tweets covering potential red flags when dating someone. These became so popular, amassing tens of thousands of likes, that it quickly evolved into a much larger trend.

Now, you see users warning against all kinds of potential red flags, like bad tastes in movies:

https://twitter.com/mushroomafia/status/1448632702417186816

And of course, as is the case with most trends on Twitter, the brands have begun to capitalize on the hype over the red flag emoji:

When they don’t eat dunked wings 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

— KFC South Africa (@KFCSA) October 14, 2021

But if you put yourself out there as a brand, you always leave the door open for criticism:

https://twitter.com/Ndeshi_005/status/1448619758157541380

The huge boom in popularity of the red flag emoji on Twitter is nothing more than a trend similar to other trends that tend to sweep across social media.

One thing that is important to consider is how those with visual impairments that use screen readers experience this meme. Screen readers capture the entire tweet and a bunch of red flags can make some users’ experiences much more annoying.

Chances are, the entire platform will forget about the emoji in the coming weeks. But do yourself a favor and read through some of the red flag tweets you see out there. You may learn some good advice.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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