21 February 2019

Emoji's In Court

It is common these days for conversations via text messaging or similar means to contain emojis. Indeed, 30% of all cases in all time, in which emojis have been discussed in judicial opinions occurred in 2018. But, while they can add important content to a message, their meaning is not as settled as ordinary words and can be more context dependent than many words.

In these cases, explaining the true meaning of a message containing an emoji can be important for interpreting the meaning of the entire message. Not only can they add content themselves, they can also modify the meaning of the text portion of a message, conveying, for example, if the message is meant sincerely or in jest.

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