diff --git a/app/models/post.rb b/app/models/post.rb
index e36ec68fc..6b0692e47 100644
--- a/app/models/post.rb
+++ b/app/models/post.rb
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def self.white_listed_image_classes
-    @white_listed_image_classes ||= ['avatar', 'favicon', 'thumbnail', 'emoji']
+    @white_listed_image_classes ||= ['avatar', 'favicon', 'thumbnail']
   end
 
   def post_analyzer
diff --git a/plugins/emoji/plugin.rb b/plugins/emoji/plugin.rb
index 1774e1661..261b66863 100644
--- a/plugins/emoji/plugin.rb
+++ b/plugins/emoji/plugin.rb
@@ -5,3 +5,10 @@
 
 register_asset('javascripts/emoji.js.erb', :server_side)
 register_asset('stylesheets/emoji.css')
+
+after_initialize do
+
+  # whitelist emojis so that new user can post emojis
+  Post::white_listed_image_classes << "emoji"
+
+end
diff --git a/spec/models/post_spec.rb b/spec/models/post_spec.rb
index cab31474a..c7e259d0f 100644
--- a/spec/models/post_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/post_spec.rb
@@ -125,7 +125,6 @@ describe Post do
     let(:post_with_favicon) { post_with_body('<img src="/assets/favicons/wikipedia.png" class="favicon">', newuser) }
     let(:post_with_thumbnail) { post_with_body('<img src="/assets/emoji/smiley.png" class="thumbnail">', newuser) }
     let(:post_with_two_classy_images) { post_with_body("<img src='http://discourse.org/logo.png' class='classy'> <img src='http://bbc.co.uk/sherlock.jpg' class='classy'>", newuser) }
-    let(:post_with_emojis) { post_with_body("<img src='/plugins/emoji/images/smile.png' title=':smile:' class='emoji' alt='smile'><img src='/plugins/emoji/images/wink.png' title=':wink:' class='emoji' alt='wink'>", newuser) }
 
     it "returns 0 images for an empty post" do
       Fabricate.build(:post).image_count.should == 0
@@ -151,10 +150,6 @@ describe Post do
       post_with_thumbnail.image_count.should == 0
     end
 
-    it "doesn't count emojies as images" do
-      post_with_emojis.image_count.should == 0
-    end
-
     it "doesn't count whitelisted images" do
       Post.stubs(:white_listed_image_classes).returns(["classy"])
       post_with_two_classy_images.image_count.should == 0
@@ -171,10 +166,6 @@ describe Post do
           post_one_image.should be_valid
         end
 
-        it "allows a new user to post emojies" do
-          post_with_emojis.should be_valid
-        end
-
         it "doesn't allow more than the maximum" do
           post_two_images.should_not be_valid
         end