diff --git a/lib/tasks/emoji.rake b/lib/tasks/emoji.rake
index e9bce247dce..9216f93fe3a 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/emoji.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/emoji.rake
@@ -277,6 +277,8 @@ end
 
 desc "update emoji images"
 task "emoji:update" do
+  abort("This task can't be run on production.") if Rails.env.production?
+
   copy_emoji_db
 
   json_db = File.read(File.join(GENERATED_PATH, "db.json"))