Hong Kong leader swarmed by 'angry' emojis on Facebook

Hong Kong's beleaguered leader is nearly 100 times more unpopular than US presidential hopeful Donald Trump, according to Facebook's new "angry-face" button that allows netizens to voice their displeasure on the social network.

Chief executive Leung Chun-ying received nearly 133,000 angry emojis on his Facebook profile picture by Saturday, three days after a raft of new emojis were introduced by the social network. Trump's picture, however, only garnered 1,400 angry faces.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister David Cameron's Facebook profile picture earned around 40 angry faces, while US President Barack Obama's avatar received just 27.

Earlier this week, Facebook also introduced "sad", "wow" and "haha" emojis to compliment its "like" button.

Facebook posts on Leung's page, where public viewers cannot leave a comment, also attracted thousands of angry emojis.

The unpopular leader, who was often caricatured as a vampire by protestors during pro-democracy rallies in 2014, is seen by many as out of touch with the city's residents.

Locals in the southern Chinese city are also discontent over soaring property prices and lagging wages, which has taken a further toll on the government's popularity.

Street battles with police earlier this month in the commercial district of Mong Kok left more than 100 injured following an attempted crackdown on hawkers in the area.

In December, Leung said his Facebook page was hacked after reports said scantily-clad women had appeared on his friends list.

© 2016 AFP