I can't say I like or hate it (yet), but why do all the tech companies start using them simultaneously?
It's popular because 1) it's cheap and easy to produce since it doesn't take much talent 2) it's easily vectorized and resizable 3) its color pallet and disproportionate human forms are supposed to make it feel universal.
Google copied Facebook, then a bunch of companies copied Google. And now finally Apple is onboard too. It's not a good look for Apple, which usually tries to create design trends, not follow them.
So we went from having Homer Simpson universal-color emojis, to a pallet of specific-color emojis, to be more inclusive. And then switched from stock photos of diverse people, to Homer Simpson cartoons, to be more universal.
We're just making this all up from year to year, aren't we?
There was a lot of discourse about it at the time. https://www.fastcompany.com/3016256/are-emojis-racist
It's analogous to how engineers across the english-speaking world simultaneously began using Docker or Hadoop or whatever. "Network effects".