Government agency removes spoon emoji from work platform amid protests

According to a New York Times report, on Thursday, the U.S. government’s General Services Administration (GSA) removed the spoon emoji as an option that users of its videoconferencing platform can select to express themselves. The move comes a day after workers embraced the digital cutlery to protest the Trump administration’s “Fork in the Road” resignation offer.

The emailed offer, titled “A Fork in the Road” — it’s exactly how Elon Musk titled an email to Twitter employees soon after he purchased the platform — is a bid for government workers to resign their roles while receiving payment through September.

The proposal has raised the ire of federal workers and labor unions alike. On Wednesday, employees at the Technology Transformation Services division of the GSA reportedly unleashed a torrent of spoon emojis in the chat that accompanied an organization-wide, 600-person video conference with new leader Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer. Some have also taken to adding a spoon to their Slack status as a form of silent protest.