The leftwards thumb sign emoji depicts a hand with the thumb pointing towards the left and can be used for pointing at something on the left, conveying a direction, or simply as a visual element to the message. It is a relatively new emoji so its usage might still seem unusual to some people.
Compared to the popular thumbs-up emoji, the leftwards thumb sign does not have any particular meaning other than the direction of the hand movement. As such, the emoji can be used to point at something on the left, such as a part of the text or an image. The pointing can be literal, such as in directions, or figurative, to stress a certain part of the text or show something interesting. It can also be used as an emoji-only replacement for some directional words.
The meaning of the emoji heavily depends on the context of the conversation or message. For example, In a message describing directions, the left pointing thumb would mean literally pointing to the left. Whereas in a casual conversation, it can be used to express some interest or surprise similarly to an exclamation mark or even replace some text or directional words.
The leftwards thumb sign emoji can be used as a quick and simple way of pointing at some element on the left in a text or an image. As such, it can be used in text messaging, social media, online forums, and other methods of digital communication.
To summarize, the leftwards thumb sign is a simple emoji which can be used for pointing at something on the left, direction indication, or as a replacement for some directional words or text. It is relatively straight forward and contextually dependent.