Binance’s Swastika-Like Emoji Show on Hitler’s Birthday Meets With Satire on Twitter, Exchange Apologises

After facing severe backlash on social media, Binance posted an apology for its rather “embarrassing” lapse in judgement.

By Radhika Parashar | Updated: 21 April 2022 14:44 IST

Binance’s Swastika-Like Emoji Show on Hitler’s Birthday Meets With Satire on Twitter, Exchange Apologises

Photo Credit: Binance

The controversial emoji showed a yellow-coloured Swastika-like symbol framing Binance logo

Highlights

Binance is pulling back the controversial logo
Binance has said the error went unnoticed by team members
Binance followers expressed shock and anger at the emoji

Binance found itself on the receiving end of criticism and satire after it released an emoji resembling the Swastika symbol, incidentally on the birthday of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. The controversial emoji showed a yellow-coloured Swastika-like symbol framing the Binance logo. Several people on Twitter slammed Binance CEO Chengpeng Zhao for insensitively attaching his company's logo to Hitler's infamous symbol that is synonymous with hate and fascism in the Western world. The Swastika symbol is a bitter remembrance of the World War II and the Holocaust tragedies where millions lost their lives.

After facing severe backlash on social media, the crypto exchange posted an apology for its rather “embarrassing” lapse in judgement.

“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,” the company told its 8.4 million Twitter followers just hours after the emoji was posted.

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Everything started when Binance CEO Zhao, on April 20, tweeted the new emoji along with popular community hashtags — #Binance, #BNB, and #BitcoinButton.

The new Binance emoji is a literal swastika pic.twitter.com/lCOuWuPnyF
— mann0000.eth :bat::loud_sound: (@nftshare) April 20, 2022

Tweeple reacted to the emoji with shock, sarcasm, and disappointment.

perfect day to drop the new swastika emoji, #binance !! pic.twitter.com/ex0G1Tfo1O
— spirits (@0xSpirits) April 20, 2022

binance unveiled a new logo today

unrelated: today is Hitler's birthday pic.twitter.com/kQP44lTeG8
— Doc 🏛 (@DrBitcoinMD) April 20, 2022

fr if Binance didn't notice their new emoji was a swastika after “several layers of review,” then you've gotta eventually wonder what else they aren't noticing
— DCinvestor.eth ⌐◨-◨ (@iamDCinvestor) April 20, 2022

The new Binance emoji is a literal swastika pic.twitter.com/lCOuWuPnyF
— mann0000.eth :bat::loud_sound: (@nftshare) April 20, 2022

Benette Tomlin, the co-host of the podcast ‘Crypto Critics' Corner' defended Binance saying that whoever approved the symbol may have not had the ‘cultural knowledge' to have noticed the issue.

Probably that the people working on this and who approved this did not have the cultural knowledge to recognize how this would be interpreted
— Bennett Tomlin (@BennettTomlin) April 20, 2022

While Hitler's black-coloured Swasitka symbol was slightly tilted, its original representation, usually in orange or red, is considered auspicious in Asian cultures, including Hinduism.

"Swastika" an traditional ancient #Hindu Symbol

Vs.

Hooked Cross”(“Haken Kreuz”) used by #Nazi Hitlerhttps://t.co/eGW5vKuV8s
— सिंह Singh:flag-in: 108 (@VisitorA8Planet) July 28, 2020

The official handles of Binance and its CEO Zhao, have both removed tweets showing the scandalous emoji.

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Launched in 2017, US-based Binance is reportedlyworld's largest crypto exchange with over 28.5 million global users, statistical reports estimate.

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Further reading: Binance, Zengpeng Zhao, Adolf Hitler, Cryptocurrency, Crypto Exchange, Emoji

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More