So-called "flushable" wet wipes are a misnomer and have been causing environmental problems wherever they go. Sure, they are designed to be flushed, and will not clog up a toilet, but these wipes often cause problems downstream, where they absorb grease and oil and form "fatbergs" thatclog up sewage systems and can even collect in rivers. A mass of wet wipes has collected on the side of the river Thames in London, forming an island the size of two tennis courts. It's so massive it has changed the course of the river. Many kinds of wet wipes contain plastic material, so even when they finally disintegrate they can leave microplastics in the environment, affecting both wildlife and the water supply.
Emojis and stickers used in online chats can be held against you in a court of law. Chinese judiciaries have logged 158 lawsuits that recognised emojis and other online expressions as evidence in the past five years. Cases presenting this modern means of communication as proof in lawsuits have risen from just eight in 2018 to 61 in 2021. Use of emojis, stickers, and memes is dubbed collectively as biaoqingbao in Chinese. The meaning behind certain emojis could vary from one user to another - how would authorities decipher the intention? One court in Shenzhen recognised a response using a sun emoji as an endorsement of extending the lease in a rental dispute. Another court in the west stated in 2020 that an icon referring to the 'okay' hand gesture didn't constitute evidence for the acknowledgement of a loan contract.
