Australian minister defends characterising Russian President Vladimir Putin with angry-face emoji

Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, said she believed Mr Putin would be flattered rather than offended by the red face she used during an interview by text message with Buzzfeed

When Julie Bishop gave an interview to Buzzfeed earlier this year she composed her responses entirely of emoji (EPA)

Australia’s Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, is a prolific user of social media, and known for her love of emoji – the digital icons that convey emotions and ideas. But she probably never expected hers to be scrutinised for their potential to cause a diplomatic incident.

Earlier this year, Ms Bishop gave an interview by text message to Buzzfeed, the news and entertainment website, her responses consisting solely of emoji. It was her use of an angry red face to characterise the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, that prompted a grilling of her departmental officials by a powerful parliamentary committee. What was “the diplomatic message” of that face, demanded the opposition Labor Senator Penny Wong. Was it “intended to suggest the Foreign Minister is angry at President Putin?”.

The foreign affairs department’s secretary, Peter Varghese, confessed he had no idea. But the committee chairman, Chris Back, a member of Ms Bishop’s conservative Liberal Party, was even more clueless. Not only was he confused about “what this term [emoji] means”, he confided, but he had “never heard of what a Buzzfeed was until my staff informed me”.

His Liberal colleague, Attorney-General George Brandis, helpfully explained the former as “the smiley faces you have on your text messages”. He added, rather smugly, that “this being a ministry for the 21st century, this mode of communication is not unfamiliar to us”.

I think President Putin would be delighted with the emoji that I used to describe him

&#13; <p>Australia's Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop</p>&#13;

Ms Wong persisted. “What is the statement or message of the red face? ‘We don’t like him?’ ‘We’re angry at him’?”

Mr Brandis suggested that the face “could be a reference to ideology”. It was “plainly not an expression of our relationship with Russia”, he stressed, nor was “the communication concerned... a formal diplomatic démarche of any kind”.

The Foreign Minister later said that she believed Mr Putin would be flattered rather than offended by the red face. “He self-describes as a hard man,” she said. “In fact, having met President Putin, I think he’d be delighted with the emoji that I used to describe him.” She would, she added in an emoji-laden tweet, be “happy to provide @SenatorWong with a translation of emoji to a language Labor understands”.