But this World Emoji Day (17 July) people are only just realising the real meaning behind the seemingly innocent 'dancing girls' emoji - and some are horrified to discover the truth.

Facebook gets down with diversity and girl power with 1,500 new emoji The new emoji are now available in Facebook’s Messenger app across all platforms, the company said in a post.

As emoji and emoticons have rocketed from web slang to the unofficial language of the Internet age, authorities contend the symbols have been used to stalk, harass, threaten or defame people.