Decoding Emojis: Navigating the Complexities of Communicating Complaints in the Digital Age
During FINRA's annual conference in May 2023, a panel of officials raised concerns about the need to review emojis, text abbreviations, and acronyms in electronic messages to determine if they constitute reportable customer complaints. This announcement poses challenges for firms, as the technology to identify and interpret emojis is not clearly established and the meanings of emojis can vary significantly based on context.
Emojis are constantly evolving and being added to our digital vocabulary. For example, the recent addition of 21 new emojis in IOS 16.5 demonstrates their ever-growing presence. Moreover, firms may have technological difficulties surveilling and understanding emojis because their meaning can change over time and vary depending on the sender's and recipient's generational bracket. This contextual dependence raises difficulties in accurately interpreting emojis, making it challenging for firms to categorize them as reportable complaints.
FINRA’s announcement highlights the importance of consulting with firm management, compliance officers, and registered representatives prior to implementing unestablished and untested regulations.
This information comes from Brian Rubin, a partner at Eversheds Sutherland, whose article Emoji Enforcement: Surely You Can’t Be Serious appeared in the May 2023 editions of Currents. To receive important information such as this and to review the risks and associated compliance and supervision suggestions, join NSCP today to receive NSCP Currents and stay up to date on issues such as this that matter most for the financial services industry. Members can access the full article here.
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