On: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

[amelius]

Why can't we just send custom emoji, and maintain a library of them?

[aembleton → amelius]

Because it is a character, not an image so the recipient would also need the character to display it.

[amelius → aembleton]

This may be how it is implemented, but it may not be what the user wants. The user may just want to send "image of X", where X may be something that was not predefined by some company or standards-committee, or it may be something that some company or government does not want the user to send.