None of those are analagous to the question at hand.

People are clearly using the emoji they want because they want to in and of itself, end of story.

They're not doing it to satisfy the government or access software or whatever. And no, I'm not looking for the word "instrumental", because emoji are about expression, which is literally the polar opposite of something being instrumental.

Sometimes it's not about looking twenty moves ahead. Some things are just valuable in and of themselves. Some things are about the moment. Perhaps that's the perspective you're missing here?

Just because some things are instrumental doesn't mean everything is. And thank goodness for that!