Emoji Appearing in Court Cases in Texts Submitted as Evidence

If you own a smartphone, use social media, or even watch a lot of television, you have come across an emoji every now and then. An emoji is a tiny graphic that depicts various activities, backgrounds, interests and other things in life. The use of emoji and emoticon have become so popular that they are now appearing in court cases at an incredible rate. In fact, between 2004 and 2019, there was an incredible increase in these two items being mentioned in court opinions across the country. In 2018 alone, 30 percent of all opinions naming emoji and emoticon happened in the calendar year.

Who tracks the use of emoji in court cases?

One man has made a project out of tracking emoji use in court cases: Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman. Goldman has taken it upon himself to track every single use of emoji and emoticon in court case opinions across the country. Goldman’s data shows that rarely does the use of either of these items help to sway a case in one direction or the other, but warns that as they become more common, they could cause a lot of problems for judges.

“We’re going to see emojis show up more frequently when the case involves people talking to each other,” Goldman told The Verge. He went on to say that emoji used in murder cases could wind up showing the state of mind of the defendant and could be found in any threat sent to the victim. “That can happen in criminal law, but it can happen in contract law as well. There’s a bunch of chatter that takes place before a contract is actually formed,” he said.

Emoji basis of ruling in Israel case

There was a case from 2017 in Israel where the emoji submitted as evidence by the plaintiff wound up being the basis of the ruling against the defendants. The case involved two people who were looking for an apartment to rent. They reportedly sent a text message to the plaintiff (the landlord) that was enthusiastic in their interest to rent the apartment. The text contained a champagne bottle emoji, a squirrel emoji, and a comet emoji. According to the lawsuit, the couple stopped texting with the landlord and decided to rent a different apartment. The court ruled in this case that the couple had acted in bad faith because the emoji showed great optimism that led the plaintiff to believe that they were going to rent the apartment from him.

Where the courts stand now with emoji

According to Goldman, the courts don’t necessarily consider the use of emoji in evidence right now in the United States.

“They show up as evidence, the courts have to acknowledge their existence, but often they’re immaterial,” Goldman says. “That’s why many judges decide to say ‘emoji omitted’ because they don’t think it’s relevant to the case at all. You could imagine if you got a winky face following the text sentence, you’re going to read that sentence very differently than without the winky face,” he says.

Despite all of this, Goldman expects that emoji will become more prevalent in court cases nationwide in the coming years. He said that it’s possible texts, tweets, and Facebook posts using emoji could very well lead to lawsuits, but that they must first be given consideration in court opinions before they sway a court’s decision.

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