Twitter 'not invited' to Trump's tech meeting for refusing to make CrookedHillary emoji

After riling one of America's biggest trade partners China, Donald Trump has picked his next fight with a friend closer to home - Twitter.

The billionaire businessman has arguably gained more from the social media platform than anyone in the world.

A prolific tweeter with more than 17million followers, Trump's frequent outbursts have been poured over endlessly by outraged opponents and made headlines throughout his campaign.

His hashtags such as 'Drain The Swamp' and 'Make America Great Again' became slogans embraced fanatically by supporters who propelled him to the White House.

But it seems Trump does not feel he has any favour to return to the tech giants.

They were left out of an industry meeting held by the President-elect to discuss themes such as cyber security and the spread of violent online propaganda.

Sources at Twitter say Trump was left furious by the company's refusal to create a 'CrookedHillary' emoji in October.

Trump's election campaign had offered to pay to have an emoji, or small picture, that would show up on tweets during the second presidential debate anytime Twitter users tweeted the phrase "#CrookedHillary," Republican Trump's nickname for his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton .

Twitter rejected the deal, saying it might mislead users who would not be able to tell that the campaign had paid for the emoji.

The Trump transition spokesman said the emoji had nothing to do with the invitation omission.

"They weren’t invited because they aren’t big enough," the transition official said.

Worth an estimated $13.85 billion, Twitter is smaller than Facebook and Amazon, companies that were included in the meeting in New York.

The smallest company in attendance was electric car maker Tesla, worth $31.92 billion.

During the Obama era, Twitter was a regular participant in meetings meant to address technology concerns, especially given its use by groups such as Islamic State and the ease with which the site is used for online bullying.

The official said Trump has had public spats with other tech leaders who were invited, including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, who hosted a fundraiser for Clinton.

Trump, speaking to the group of technology officials at the meeting, acknowledged others had been left off the list, but he did not mention Twitter specifically.

"I won't tell you the hundreds of calls we've had asking to come to this meeting," he said to laughter in the room, "and I will say Peter (Thiel) was sort of saying 'no that company's too small,' and these are monster companies."