Although it wasn't listed in the patch notes for the latest big update, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone have seemingly removed one of the game's gestures: The "OK" symbol. While neither Infinity Ward nor Activision have commented on the removal, there's a good chance it may have been the result of the symbol's association with white power and white nationalism.
Historically, the OK symbol has been around since at least the 1600s and has generally meant consent, well-being or approval, though there are also some relatively major cultural differences in how the symbol is used across the world. However, in early 2017 trolls on 4chan set up posts to make it seem like the OK symbol had been appropriated by white supremacists and was being used to signal each other in public. This wasn't actually the case at the time, as 4chan was essentially just trying to make an outlandish claim to see if it would get blown out of proportion. Still, this led to actual white supremacists starting to use the symbol. So while most uses of the OK symbol are innocuous, the white supremacist movement has co-opted the gesture to identify each other in public and plain sight. The Anti-Defamation League has since classified the OK symbol as a white power symbol.
Despite Call of Duty: Modern Warfare having been out for almost a year, the removal is only coming about now. While it's still not confirmed just why the gesture was removed, a lot of brands have been changing or removing iconography that might be understood as racist or problematic. For example, Aunt Jemima's syrup and Uncle Ben's rice are slated to alter their logos and iconography. Even the controversially named football team centered in Washington, DC, is finally looking into changing its name after years of scrutiny. As such, Activision and Infinity Ward -- who last month added a Black Lives Matter message to Call of Duty -- may have decided to do away with the gesture to avoid any controversy down the line.
While some might see the removal of the OK symbol being removed from the game as a bad thing, there is evidence suggesting white supremacists use edgy memes and humor to slowly push impressionable kids towards their ideology. As such, it's entirely possible removing the gesture might at least slow down or hamper something of that nature happening in Call of Duty, which is hard to see as a bad thing.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is available for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.