How can I stop my Samsung Note 8 phone from auto-converting emoticons (text) into emojis (images)

[Android Central Question]

It frustrates me that this phone does this. I enjoy making my own text emoticons, and using Japanese text emoticons, which are quite charming. And it is not just aesthetic. I have no control over what the phone decides to convert it into....and it is invariably nothing like the original emoticon. The more creative/unusual the emoticon, the worse the conversion.
It basically becomes a random image generator. Worst of all, it does this to all INCOMING messages too, which means my friends emoticons become non-sense pictures. Some of my friends also make creative/clever emoticons that convey jokes and moods. This phone turns these clever nuggets of visiotextual communication into completely worthless, meaningless strings of random crap emojis. Aaargh!!!

I think this is Samsung's fault, not Android or my phone carrier, because my carrier is the same, and my last phone was also an Android and did not do this. I cannot find any setting to change it. Is there a way? Or if not, who can I complain to about this? Is there a class action lawsuit I can join? (I am kidding, but I really feel that pissed about it!)

 

[Rukbat]

I have no control over what the phone decides to convert it into

The phone doesn't, the particular app does.

It basically becomes a random image generator. Worst of all, it does this to all INCOMING messages too, which means my friends emoticons become non-sense pictures. Some of my friends also make creative/clever emoticons that convey jokes and moods. This phone turns these clever nuggets of visiotextual communication into completely worthless, meaningless strings of random crap emojis.

It depends on the app - some apps allow you to turn off emoticon translation, but most don't.

I think this is Samsung's fault, not Android or my phone carrier, because my carrier is the same, and my last phone was also an Android and did not do this. I cannot find any setting to change it. Is there a way? Or if not, who can I complain to about this?

Whoever developed the particular app it's happening in. If it's a Samsung app, Samsung (but don't expect to see any changes - they don't even listen to Google).