diff --git a/lib/pleroma/emoji.ex b/lib/pleroma/emoji.ex
index 9a23bd81b..15455b779 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/emoji.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/emoji.ex
@@ -147,8 +147,7 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Emoji do
       |> Enum.map(fn {shortcode, rel_file} ->
         filename = Path.join(common_pack_path, rel_file)
 
-        # If no tag matches, use the pack name as a tag
-        {shortcode, filename, to_string(match_extra(@groups, filename))}
+        {shortcode, filename, [to_string(match_extra(@groups, filename))]}
       end)
     end
   end
@@ -190,11 +189,11 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Emoji do
     |> Stream.map(&String.trim/1)
     |> Stream.map(fn line ->
       case String.split(line, ~r/,\s*/) do
-        [name, file, tags] ->
-          {name, file, tags}
-
         [name, file] ->
-          {name, file, to_string(match_extra(@groups, file))}
+          {name, file, [to_string(match_extra(@groups, file))]}
+
+        [name, file | tags] ->
+          {name, file, tags}
 
         _ ->
           nil
@@ -217,7 +216,7 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Emoji do
       tag = match_extra(@groups, Path.join("/", Path.relative_to(path, static_path)))
       shortcode = Path.basename(path, Path.extname(path))
       external_path = Path.join("/", Path.relative_to(path, static_path))
-      {shortcode, external_path, to_string(tag)}
+      {shortcode, external_path, [to_string(tag)]}
     end)
   end
 
diff --git a/lib/pleroma/web/mastodon_api/mastodon_api_controller.ex b/lib/pleroma/web/mastodon_api/mastodon_api_controller.ex
index 3916d7c41..2a81dcc67 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/web/mastodon_api/mastodon_api_controller.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/web/mastodon_api/mastodon_api_controller.ex
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.MastodonAPI.MastodonAPIController do
         "static_url" => url,
         "visible_in_picker" => true,
         "url" => url,
-        "tags" => String.split(tags, ",")
+        "tags" => tags
       }
     end)
   end
diff --git a/lib/pleroma/web/twitter_api/controllers/util_controller.ex b/lib/pleroma/web/twitter_api/controllers/util_controller.ex
index 9441984c7..8665e058a 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/web/twitter_api/controllers/util_controller.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/web/twitter_api/controllers/util_controller.ex
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.TwitterAPI.UtilController do
     emoji =
       Emoji.get_all()
       |> Enum.map(fn {short_code, path, tags} ->
-        {short_code, %{image_url: path, tags: String.split(tags, ",")}}
+        {short_code, %{image_url: path, tags: tags}}
       end)
       |> Enum.into(%{})
 
diff --git a/test/emoji_test.exs b/test/emoji_test.exs
index cb1d62d00..2eaa26be6 100644
--- a/test/emoji_test.exs
+++ b/test/emoji_test.exs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ defmodule Pleroma.EmojiTest do
       assert tuple_size(emoji) == 3
       assert is_binary(code)
       assert is_binary(path)
-      assert is_binary(tags)
+      assert is_list(tags)
     end
 
     test "random emoji", %{emoji_list: emoji_list} do
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ defmodule Pleroma.EmojiTest do
       assert tuple_size(emoji) == 3
       assert is_binary(code)
       assert is_binary(path)
-      assert is_binary(tags)
+      assert is_list(tags)
     end
   end