Since the last update, existing and new emojis sometimes show up as weird symbols. For example, a red circle shows up as a stack of hash marks or like the hamburger in a menu. Also, they are black/white, no color.
Might be a font issue. When a font doesn’t have the needed characters, the system pulls them from another installed font. It sounds like it might be pulling from the wrong font (perhaps a specialized interface one that uses system icons instead of the intended characters). I’m not sure why that would suddenly happen or how to check on it, but it’s something you could try to look into if you don’t get any better answers.
OK, got it fixed, it was a font issue. Apparently the latest Ubuntu Budgie update that I ran did not have the proper fonts. Installed several font sets and things are good now.