Crimemojis!

Emojis are increasingly becoming part of our daily communications. Although language, and by extension forensic linguistics, have been aiding the uncovering of crimes since late 1960s, emojis have particularly entered the realm of legal discovery in recent years.

Interpreting emojis within context has become an integral part of many legal and criminal cases. The use of emojis in the legal context ranges from emoji-based secret lingo in drug dealings to workplace sexual harassment in contravention of human rights.

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently released a reference guide to help parents and educators decode drug-related emojis in text messages and on social media. This is due to the fact that drug dealers commonly target teenagers on social media while using emojis to go under the radar.

Some emojis are obvious, such as a mushroom🍄 representing magic mushrooms or a pill💊 representing fake prescription pills. However, decoding other emojis is more complicated. For example, Emojipedia describes a maple leaf🍁 as a reference to Canada/Canadian or more generally to the season of fall, but in drug dealers’ terminology, a maple leaf is a universal reference to drugs.

There are other emojis that have dual meanings. For example, a blue heart💙 may appear to be a benign reference to love and support for a specific cause, such as autism awareness, but in fact a blue heart is typically used to refer to meth in drug rings. Similarly, a brown heart🤎 may be an innocent reference to racial equality and justice for peoples of color, but depending on the context it may be a specific reference to heroin.

Further, the addition of certain emojis to innocent text messages can drastically change the meaning and function of the text message. For example, in the case of a workplace sexual harassment before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the employer was accused of inappropriate sexual advancements and ultimately sexual harassment and reprisal.[1]

When providing disclosure, the employer who was accused of sexual harassment only provided the words of each text message to the Tribunal. However, the employee who had filed the complaint submitted the full text messages including any emojis that would have been part of the text message.

An actual text message from this case can indicate how the addition of an emoji can morph a formal and serious work-related text massage into a playful and lascivious text message. On July 8, 2014 the employer sent a text message to his employee. The employer submitted the following text message to the Tribunal: "Sorry to disturb u on your day off".

While in fact the text message included an emoji and was as follows: "Sorry to disturb u on your day off😛". The actual text message shows that inserting an emoji can completely change the tone of the text message. The text with emoji may further imply that the employer approves out-of-workplace relations.

The employer in this case was found guilty of sexual harassment, poisoned work environment, and reprisal in the workplace. Although the case was decided based on multiple circumstantial factors, the use of emojis and their implications were taken into account in the Tribunal's final decision.

In Canada, emojis, as well as emoticons (or primitive emojis), have been considered to have evidentiary value in legal decisions at different court levels and tribunals. If you think you have a legal case that is based on language evidence, you should seek professional help. Also, keep in mind that you may benefit from hiring an expert witness to testify in your case so that the court can make an informed and educated decision.

[1] Perry v. The Centre for Advanced Medicine, 2017 HRTO 191