Can Emoji’s be a Criminal Offense?

Although I have not seen this in my practice, there was a recent article in CNN about whether emoji’s can be looked at as a threat; such as can a knife emoji double as a threat to kill someone.  According to CNN’s article the reported cases have been increasing significantly while still a fairly low number there does not appear to be a lot of court guidelines in terms of how to determine whether an emoji in question can be interpreted.  They typically would be present in sexual harassment cases or criminal cases; particularly with threats. 

Again, according to a CNN an article in 2017 a murder case in Massachusetts where a dizzy face emoji with x’s for eyes was showing that the individual received and knew something was happening and related to the murder case.

As a practical matter people do want to be concerned about how emoji’s can be interpreted and whether or not there can even be a potential criminal interpretations or simple lawsuits based on the interpretation of the emoji.