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In the United States, you can go to jail for using certain emojis to promote cryptocurrencies
A New York District Court judge has ruled that emojis used in public posts can be considered financial advice. Users will face legal consequences for using the rocket, stock chart, and money bags emoji in the context of predicting the value of digital assets.
Lisa Braganza, the former head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), wrote more about this on her Twitter page. As Braganza warned users, the use of certain emojis will have legal consequences if bloggers try to «give advice to investors» in this way.
«A federal court judge has ruled that these emojis objectively mean one thing: a financial return on investment. Users have been warned about the legal consequences of their use,» summarized Lisa Braganza.
The former head of the SEC also said that a few days earlier, Federal Court Judge Victor Marrero had rejected Dapper Labs' motion to dismiss the complaint against the NBA Top Shot account. The judge noted that some of the tweets posted by NBA Top Shot on Twitter contained emoticons indicating financial advice.
«Although the word 'profit' is not included in any of the tweets, the emojis 'rocket,' 'stock charts,' and 'money bags' objectively mean one thing: financial advice to investors ,» the court ruling said.
Members of the cryptocurrency community reacted to the news with mixed feelings. One user called this innovation tragic, noting that freedom of speech no longer applies to emojis.