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WhatsApp emojis that can land you in jail
Several countries around the world have charged people with crimes based on their use of emojis on social media and other digital communication platforms.
This is according to Dr Zakeera Docrat, a linguist and post-doctorate fellow at the University of the Western Cape.
In conversation with 702, Docrat referred to a case where someone in New Zealand had been found guilty of threatening an ex-partner by posting a violent message followed by an aeroplane emoji.
“In that context, the complainant had moved away from the abuser, but he sent her the text message with the aeroplane saying, “I’m coming to get you,” Docrat said.
“And that’s how the court interpreted it in that context.”
According to a courtroom report, the message was, “You’re going to f***ing get it,” followed by an aeroplane emoji.
Although the judge did not know what an emoji was, he said that the symbol’s context suggested the poster was coming after the victim.
Based on this, the accused was sentenced to eight months in prison on a charge of stalking.
A similar case took place in France, where a 22-year-old was sentenced to six months in prison for sending a message to his ex-partner containing a gun emoji.
The court found that the emoji constituted a “death threat in the form of an image.”
Docrat mentioned another case that involved contract law, where a judge determined that a handshake emoji and one depicting two champagne flutes being clinked together signified a contract being concluded.
Therefore, she says that when analysing emojis, the context in which they were used is key to identifying whether there was ill intention.
“If I send a knife emoji to a chef or in its specific context, that’s okay. That’s acceptable,” Docrat says.
“But again, if you’re using the knife or gun emoji in an abusive context, then the meaning changes completely.”
Apart from an ongoing involving an Eastern Cape judge accused of sexual harassment, where a message containing a peeled banana is being used as evidence, there are no instances of convictions involving emojis in South Africa.
However, certain types of messages have been declared a criminal offence.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed South Africa’s Cybercrimes Act into law in 2021, outlining three types of harmful messages that are criminal offences in the country:
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Those that incite violence or damage to property
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Messages threatening people with violence or property damage
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Messages that unlawfully contain intimate images.
On the latter, the Cybercrimes Act stipulates that an intimate image can be both real or stimulated.
This, therefore, includes “deepfakes”, where someone else’s face is superimposed onto a nude image, and sharing such an image is a criminal offence in South Africa.
The same applies if the person isn’t identifiable in the image but is identified in the text or in other information contained in the message.
The Cybercrimes Act defines “violence” as bodily harm and “damage to property” as damage inflicted on corporeal or incorporeal property.
It makes it an offence to send messages that threaten a person or group of people with violence or damage to their property.
The bill states that punishment for these offences includes a fine, imprisonment not exceeding five years, or a combination of both.
Subsequent convictions will land offenders with another fine, imprisonment not exceeding five years, or a combination of the two.
Additionally, any message communicated that is used to incite harm or promote or propagate hatred is a criminal offence, according to the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act 16 of 2023.
source:WhatsApp emojis that can land you in jail – MyBroadband
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