30 Oct Careful: Emoticons Have Legal Meaning

The ABA Journal reports that courts are struggling with whether emoticons and emojis, like 🙂 for a smile if you’ve been sleeping since 1990, have any substantive probative legal value in court cases. If you say something but add a wink does that mean you’re kidding or you’re looking forward to harassing someone? A Delaware judge said the latter.

Several cases turned on the stuck out tongue emoji. Does that automatically mean everything you’ve written is intended as a joke? Folks have argued it to offset claims of defamation and others. In at least one case the court agreed the emoji indicated a joke.

I try not to give any advice here, but this one’s for free: be very careful when you think about everything you text, email or even voice mail. If you’re kidding, just say so. When you write something, think, “Would I enjoy having to defend writing this in front of a judge?”

A fun all Hallow’s eve to all.