Yellow emojis are often associated with white ethnicity rather than being seen as neutral, according to new research.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, is the first to examine how people interpret a person’s identity based on their use of emoji symbols.

Nearly 500 people participated in the research, with half self-identifying as black and half as white.

Participants were shown text messages, some of which contained yellow emojis while others included a darker or lighter skin-toned emoji.

The study found that yellow emojis were not seen as neutral by either black or white reader groups.

Among black participants, more than half (56%) saw yellow emojis as more likely to signify white identity, while the figure for white participants was 63%.

Researchers found that both darker and lighter-toned emojis were clear indicators of the sender’s ethnicity.

Including a darker-toned emoji caused both black and white readers to select a black author 80% of the time.

Similarly, including a lighter-toned emoji resulted in 80% of readers choosing a white author.

Dr Alexander Robertson, from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics, commented: “That people appear to use emojis both to express their own ethnicity and to understand the identity of others undoubtedly affects how they react to content containing emojis.

“This could influence things like how likely they are to believe or share certain content with others.”

Dr Robertson added that further research “could offer important insights into sociolinguistics and areas like the spread of disinformation”.

Recommended

• Apple stands firm on new hybrid working policies
• Scottish firm Topolytics recognised in Circular Innovation City Challenge
• Facebook value surpasses $1 trillion following lawsuit dismissals

Previous studies have found that people use skin-toned emojis as a way of representing their own identity. While skin-toned emojis have been widely available since 2015, very little was known about how people interpret the use of emojis by others.

Researchers say emojis do change how people perceive others in a similar way to how people speak can reveal information about a person’s identity.

The results of the Edinburgh University study also highlight that supposedly neutral options can carry social meaning, which may advantage some groups over others.

By highlighting this issue, researchers hope this may help to shape the development of technologies to take these various factors into account.