Have you ever sent a text or email with an emoji? For those who don't know what an emoji is, it is a small picture that helps demonstrate an emotion. Some examples include a smiley face or a frown that is included at the end of a text or inside of an email.
An emoji or emoticon should only be inserted after carefully weighing the potential legal consequences. Every time you insert a smiley face or frown in a text or email you need to realize that it may be utilized as digital evidence. An emoticon may create tremendous legal liability for the sender.
For example, during the Silk Road trial emoji evidence has become an important issue. While video and phone call/audio recordings have been introduced as evidence during legal proceedings for years, digital evidence is now coming into its own. During the past 15 years, emails, text messages, and other digital created data has grown in importance. This change has occurred since we now communicate more and more on digital platforms.
The bottom line is that not only may written or spoken words may come back to haunt someone in a legal proceeding but also alleged emotions based upon an emojis or other symbols. Therefore, it is imperative to be very careful when utilizing emoticons and/or symbols on digital platforms.
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