Emoji could get you ARRESTED - as revealed in Netflix's Adolescence

Legal experts say emoji have been 'flooding the legal system' with more than 1,000 cases since 2010 in the US alone.

Sending an emoji can be evidence of an intent to commit a crime, an admission of guilt, or even a crime in itself in some cases.

With 3,790 unique emoji now in existence, legal experts are struggling to keep up with the variety of ways they can be used.

In some cases, emoji can be a form of forensic evidence all of their own.

But, there is no established set of rules for how emoji are used or should be interpreted.

This is why forensic linguistics experts are starting to argue that emoji forensics needs to become its own discipline.

For instance, smiley face in a threatening grin might show the sender was joking, or it could be seen as menacing.

More than a third of British adults believe emojis are the reason for the deterioration in language usage.

Smiley faces, love hearts, thumbs up and other cartoon icons are preferred method of communication by teenagers.

Teenagers are considered the worst offenders regarding the decline in grammar and punctuation.