Facebook may be embroiled in a potentially endless battle to stop sinister factions from sabotaging the very concept of democracy, but by gum, they’re still a company that knows how to have some fun.
Overnight, some Facebook users noticed that in addition to the six emoji ‘reacts’ available to slap on other users’ posts, they could also access the blue-and-white plane emoji.
It isn’t the first time Facebook has added an extra emoji to its list of reaction options, but symbols like the fabled ‘Grateful’ flower emoji have typically been tied to special occasions like Mother’s Day.
The plane? Outta nowhere.
Despite receiving zero explanation for the addition, users still spammed that bad boy on damn near everything.
https://twitter.com/macjohnearl/status/1024346528003973121
I have just discovered how to Plane react in Facebook and yes I’m being hella obnoxious with it. #planereact pic.twitter.com/foBINNJLyF
— ThinkPad McQuack @ Dallas, TX (@ElkBit) July 31, 2018
https://twitter.com/uhllenn/status/1024434138495909888
But Facebook has now confirmed the feature, which is only available to certain users of the platform’s Android smartphone app, was actually never meant to be let loose.
In a statement obtained by Fast Company, Facebook said “This was created as part of an employee hackathon and wasn’t cleared for takeoff,” but somehow made it onto the app.
Read: if you can use the plane to react to posts, bloody well do it. Next time something unexpectedly slips out of Facebook headquarters, it could be a whole lot more serious. And election-meddley.
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