Israeli Judge Rules Emoji's Show Intent - Social Media

June 19, 2017, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

Social media, our comments, images, and now reactions to other peoples’ posts is now being used in court as evidence of our actions and intent. Most insurers now regularly go through the social media accounts of claimants in personal injury cases, often finding evidence of fraud, or lies, or inconsistency in the content allowing the claims of injury to be refuted, or at the very least to cast doubt on the claimant’s testimony or other evidence.

Emojis are now in the crosshairs. Emojis are ‘reaction’ images that one can post instead of simply ‘liking’ a post. On many social media platforms, you can now show agreement, reaction, shock, concurrence, sadness etc., by selecting the correct emoji icon. A recent case in Israel found that an emoji showed intent on the part of a couple in Israel to rent an apartment, and thus formed a contract, resulting in the judge ruling that $220 was owed the landlord for an apartment they didn’t rent.

In this specific case, a landlord and potential tenants exchanged tests over a period of days. The landlord took this communication as a sign the couple was interested in renting the apartment and removed the listing from advertising. The couple then chose not to rent the apartment. The contents of the texts formed the evidence used in court against the potential tenants.

The judge didn’t say that this communication formed a binding agreement, but still awarded the landlord $2200 as the symbols supported a conclusion that the renters acted in bad faith. The emojis including a champagned bottle, dancing people and a smiley face, led the landlord to think that the apartment would be rented.

Social media law experts think that the use of emojis will become common place in the courts, although interpreting them will remain a challenge as their meaning to individual people may vary, making interpretation difficult.

It will be interesting to see the rulings once emoji interpretation rulings come down in Canada. In the meantime, if you are injured in a car accident you should give very serious thought to holding off posting or reacting to other’s social media posts.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

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