John harris politico twitter emoticons

Since emojis were released in 1997, these simple little symbols (or ideograms) have continued to evolve in meaning as more platforms adopt them, and users begin constructing their own interpretations -- including somewhat hidden political connotations.

Primarily used on Twitter, but also seen elsewhere online to a lesser degree, many emojis have slowly developed into symbolic political “digital bumper stickers,” so to speak.

Essentially, these are a way for people to express themselves via their handle. This trend began appearing on Twitter around the 2016 U.S. presidential election and has continued to grow in recent years.

Typically found in someone’s username, political emojis like these are used as a way to prominently display one’s political preferences into a handle for people to easily and instantly recognize where someone stands.

Additionally, they are also used in tweets or replies as a shorthand for various political terms, such as id