A judge in New York recently issued a very special statement done. According to the judge in question, emojis can be seen as ‘financial advice’. Of course, this would mean that there could be potential legal ramifications for using certain emojis. After all, it is often not allowed to give financial advice just like that.
The persuasive power of emojis
Former executive at US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lisa Braganca, warned her followers on Twitter about the possible implications of the ruling.
A federal court judge ruled that these emojis 🚀📈💰objectively mean “one thing: a financial return on investment.” Users of these emojis are hereby warned of the legal consequence of their use. #emojis #rocketshipemoji #DapperLabs https://t.co/4yRfWBH96R
— Former SEC Branch Chief Lisa Braganca (@LisaBraganca) February 23, 2023
The judge ruled in a case involving Dapper Labs. The crypto company had posted a message on Twitter about their NBA Top Shots NFT (non fungible token) projects.
In a message cited as an example, certain emojis are frequently seen. Of course, these are emojis of a rising graph and a rising rocket or a bag of money. People who every now and then on crypto twitter or in our free Telegram will of course recognize these emojis immediately. They are used a lot.
The judge pointed out that some of the tweets published on Twitter by the NBA Top Shot account contain emojis indicating financial returns. “And while the literal word ‘profit’ doesn’t appear in any of the tweets, the ‘rocket ship’ emoji, ‘stock chart’ emoji, and ‘money bags’ emoji mean one thing objectively: a financial return on investment,” the statement said. court.
Crypto community responds
According to many, it remains in the crypto community a downright bizarre statement. Twitter is currently making fun of the notion that emojis can be financial advice.
I hereby declare that I’ve only used “🚀, 📈, 💰” to indicate a missile 🚀 hitting an otherwise sound portfolio 📈 and putting your money in a trash bag 💰. In other words, the opposite of financial return on investment. https://t.co/TriHDs28cr
— AshChild 🚬🐟🍗 (@iamashchild) February 24, 2023
It is of course doubtful to what extent labeling certain emojis as financial advice can also be enforced. Nevertheless, case law now exists for future court cases dealing with similar issues. All in all a special development.