Spoon Emoji Ban: Government Agency Removes Symbol After Protests

Spoon Emoji Removed from GSA Videoconferencing Platform

A recent report by the New York Times details the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) decision to eliminate the spoon emoji from its videoconferencing platform’s selectable expressions. This action was taken on Thursday.

The removal followed a day of employee demonstration. Government workers had adopted the spoon emoji as a means of protesting the Trump administration’s resignation offer, dubbed “Fork in the Road.”

The “Fork in the Road” Resignation Offer

The resignation proposal, mirroring a similar email title used by Elon Musk following his acquisition of Twitter, was distributed to government employees via email.

It presents an opportunity for workers to voluntarily resign from their positions while continuing to receive compensation through the month of September.

Employee Response and Protest

This proposal has generated significant opposition from both federal employees and labor organizations.

On Wednesday, staff within the GSA’s Technology Transformation Services division engaged in a widespread display of spoon emojis. This occurred during a 600-person video conference led by the division’s new head, Thomas Shedd, previously an engineer at Tesla.

Furthermore, some employees have chosen to express their dissent by incorporating a spoon into their Slack status, utilizing it as a quiet form of protest.

Federal workers are using the spoon emoji to symbolize their rejection of the offer.

• The GSA removed the emoji on Thursday.
• The protest began after the “Fork in the Road” offer was presented.
• Employees utilized the emoji during a large video conference.