According to Kuwaiti lawyer, Hussain Al Abdallah, sending a kiss or flower emoji to someone you don't know on WhatsApp is a form of sexual harassment. 

The lawyer made the statement during a live discussion broadcast on Kuwait's Marina FM earlier this week. 

During the segment, Al Abdallah spoke out on the rise of online harassment against both men and women in the country, revealing shocking statistics on the number of cases reported in recent months. 

However, his emoji statement is all what tweeps focused on and it sparked controversy on Twitter. 

"If you send a kiss or flower emoji to someone you don't know, it can be considered a form of harassment"

During the live radio debate, the lawyer said that over 400 cases of online sexual harassment cases were recorded in the first five months of 2018. 

To give an example of what can constitute harassment under the country's cybercrime laws, Al Abdallah said: 

"If you send a kiss or flower emoji to someone you don't know, it can be considered a form of harassment."

Hours after he made the statement, it went completely viral on Kuwaiti Twitter. 

Some were all for the lawyer's statement...

"That's what's best. Let them learn some morals." 

Others had questions about it...

"A question to this lawyer: Under which law are emojis criminalized? Is there a direct legislation that criminalizes them? Especially given the fact that some of them can carry more than one meaning. Is there a specific punishment for different kinds of emojis? Are there any rulings that have passed against people in this regard?"

Many were having none of it though

"Are they serious? The flower emoji!"

A few tweeps thought it was a bit too much

"I've sent everyone kiss and flower emojis!! You're envying us over electronic kisses now!!" 

Others reacted with sarcasm

"How do I delete kiss and flower emojis from my mobile keyboard?" 

Tongue-in-cheek tweets were all over the responses

"Where are the people who sent me kisses and flowers... I am suing them all, one by one"

"What's your crime? Emoji"