U+1F480 · emoji since 2010
Online, the skull emoji almost never means death. It means I'm dead, as in something is so funny it killed me. For a lot of people it has fully replaced 😂 as the top laughing reaction.
It also covers embarrassment and disbelief, like when someone says something so unhinged you simply perish. Context is everything: on a Halloween post it's spooky, under a meme it's the highest compliment comedy can get.
In texting, 💀 almost never means death. It means I am dead, slang for laughing so hard you have died. It marks something hilarious, the way 😂 does, often after a joke or an absurd situation. It can also signal pure secondhand embarrassment or disbelief.
Usually it means they found your message extremely funny, as in I am dead laughing. It is friendly and lighthearted, not morbid. Occasionally it tags being done with a situation or cringing at something awkward, but the laughing meaning is by far the most common.
The 💀 leads off a short phrase, and the rest of the words are written in cipher, every letter disguised as another emoji. Tap decipher to reveal the whole line.
Or make your own cipher in the translator.