This plugin disables the new WordPress emoji functionality. GDPR friendly.
As of April 2026, Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly) is a WordPress GDPR plugin with 60K+ active installations and a 5/5 rating from 107 reviews. It has been downloaded 1.1M+ times in total. Requires WordPress 4.8+ and PHP false+. Available on WordPress.org since 2015. Last updated 1 year ago — may have compatibility concerns. Download volume is stable this week. Top alternative: Complianz – GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent.
This plugin disables the new WordPress emoji functionality. GDPR friendly.
Note: Emoticons will still work and emojis will still work in browsers which have built in support for them. This plugin simply removes the extra code bloat used to add support for emojis in older browsers.
This plugin does not do anything to make your site less GDPR compliant. It disables the DNS prefetching of emojis within WordPress, which should ensure improved privacy. To determine if your site is GDPR compliant, please seek legal advice. I have done my best to ensure the plugin is 100% GDPR compliant, but I am not a lawyer so can not guarantee anything 😉
It’s so rare to find a plugin these days that has no bloat, no upsells, no ANYTHING beyond exactly what’s needed to get the job done. Thank you!
Disable Emojis by Ryan Hellyer is a gem! With 60k+ active installs and nearly perfect 5-star rating, it’s clearly doing something right. This lightweight plugin strips out WordPress’s bloated emoji code while keeping your content looking great in modern browsers. The GDPR-friendly bonus is huge – it stops DNS prefetching to external emoji servers, protecting visitor privacy. Ryan’s been maintaining this for years and it shows. Your site loads faster, stays compliant, and emojis still work naturally. Win-win-win!
Does not activate. Every time I click “activate”, the page just refreshes with no action.
Thanks for making this plugin, Ryan!
No settings, just works.
| WordPress | 4.8+ requiredTested up to 6.8.5 |
| PHP | false+ required |
Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Analysis and metrics by PluginSift.