Gen Z recently dubbed the thumbs-up emoji as “rude” and “hostile.” Getty Images/iStockphoto “For younger people, the thumbs-up emoji is used to be really passive-aggressive,” a 24-year ...

To Gen Z, that classic smiley face emoji isn’t all sunshine — it’s more of a smug, side-eye smirk that can come off as passive-aggressive in texts like above.

Apple added eight new emoji to all iPhones when the company released iOS 18.4 in March, and Samsung brought those same emoji to some devices in April with the initial release of One UI 7.The new ...