sonyemojiEmojis are fun and are meant to be lighthearted ways of expressing things in a way that words cannot. However sometimes they can also be open to interpretation, which can sometimes land people in trouble. Most recently, a 12-year old girl from Fairfax, VA., has been charged with threatening her school over the use of emojis that she had posted on Instagram.

Basically the emojis she posted were that of a gun, knife, and bomb. Interestingly enough despite school authorities saying that the threat wasn’t credible, the girl in question was still charged by the police. According to the girl’s mother, she made the post because she felt bullied. “She’s a good kid. She’s never been in trouble before. I don’t think it’s a case where there should have been charges.”

The girl is expected to make an appearance in juvenile court based on these charges at the end of the month. This isn’t the first time that emojis have gotten people into trouble or been legally interpreted. For example a while ago, a grand jury in New York was asked to decide if the emoji combination of a police officer and a gun were meant to be taken as a threat to police officers.

A judge in Michigan was also asked to interpret the meaning of the emoji of a face with its tongue sticking out. If it sounds silly that we’re putting so much value into these little images, it seems that we can only expect more cases pop-up in the future. According to Bradley S. Shear, a Maryland attorney whose specialty involves internet issues, “These cases are only increasing. The more people are using their cell phones and posting on the Internet, the more emoji will creep up as evidence in cases.”

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