Why Emojis Matter in E-Discovery

Emojis are graphical icons or images used to express concepts, such as an idea or an emotion, that can be used in online communication. Technically they are encodings rendered into a graphic when displayed. Emojis have revolutionized how people communicate online, and their use needs to be addressed in e-discovery.

Keyword searching and technology-assisted review have been the primary approaches to managing document collections and review. Practitioners are well versed in developing comprehensive search terms based on applying court-approved methodologies and facts in cases, but emojis have not been subject to the same requirements. They do not respond to keyword searches.

Attorneys who know where emojis are in their document sets have significant advantages. First, they will know whether emojis were properly processed and be better equipped to both defend their own e-discovery process and identify failures in the opposing party’s process. Second, they will be better at finding potentially responsive communications that do not respond to keyword searches. Knowing where emojis are allows attorneys to set up a review process or perform analytics so those messages are not overlooked.

Emojis have already been widely adopted in today’s communication platforms, and that means that emojis are found in most e-discovery collections. Where they appear, they alter or augment the meaning of communication in ways that require emoji-specific interpretation and analysis. Therefore, e-discovery practitioners need to be aware of them and understand them, just as they understand keywords in text-based communications.