Daffy duck, coconuts and raccoons: When do memes, emojis and gifs become hate crimes?
From a man being taken to court for posting a raccoon picture on social media to a British-Asian woman being charged after holding a placard depicting ministers as coconuts, concerns are mounting about how criticising politicians can land Black and Asian people with criminal records.
Increasingly, emojis and memes are being used as a form of political criticism, in these cases to call out members of an ethnic minority who are perceived as pandering to white supremacy. But a number of people have been investigated by the police as a result of using terms such as “coconut”, “c**n” and “tap-dancer” to criticise public figures who share the same ethnicity.
Critics believe they are making legitimate points, while those on the receiving end have said the images amount to racial abuse.
Those making complaints about the images are
