Ride the Lightning

Virginia Student Criminally Charged for Making Emoji Threats

March 7, 2016

The Washington Post reported on February 27^th that a 12-year-old from Fairfax, Virginia, has been charged with threatening her school after police said she posted a message on Instagram laden with gun, bomb and knife emojis. It read in part:

Killing 🔫

"meet me in the library Tuesday"

🔫 🔪 💣

On December 14^th, a resource officer at Sidney Lanier Middle School was made aware of the threatening Instagram post and others, according to a search warrant.

The officer began interviewing students and sent an emergency request to obtain the IP address of the user associated with the Instagram account. The investigation led to the 12-year-old, who was also a student at Lanier. The search warrant states the girl admitted to authorities she posted the messages on Instagram and did it under the name of another student. She was charged with threatening the school and computer harassment. A spokesman for Fairfax County schools said the alleged threat was deemed "not credible."

Authorities have not released a motive in the case, but the girl's mother said the girl posted the messages in response to being bullied at school. It is unknown whether the case has been resolved since the girl's first hearing at the end of last month was closed to the public.

Are emojis becoming "language?" There are a growing number of cases where authorities contend emojis have been used to stalk, harass, threaten or defame people. That has left the police and courts perplexed about dealing with a means of communication that many people don't understand.

Emoji are icons of faces, hand gestures, fruits, animals and other items that can be embedded in text. They are often used to indicate the tone of a message, add emphasis or are shorthand for things or ideas.

Emojis shot to popularity in the United States after Apple included an emoji keyboard on its iPhone in 2011. The advertising company Swyft Media estimates 6 billion emojis and other pictograms are sent each day and a report by an Internet startup Emogi found 92 percent of the online population uses the icons.

Attorneys have argued over whether emoji should be presented to juries as evidence. Experts say the biggest problem is simply determining in court what a defendant actually intended by sending a particular emoji. There have been (at least) four other cases involving emoji – in general, the triers of fact seem befuddled by what the writer actually meant to convey. A true threat? Or just posturing? Interpreting emojis has proved challenging.

We are likely to see many more of these cases with very differing outcomes.

Hat tip to Tina Ayoitis.

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