diff --git a/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/features/emoji_picker/index.js b/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/features/emoji_picker/index.js
index a78117971eb..d963039dc53 100644
--- a/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/features/emoji_picker/index.js
+++ b/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/features/emoji_picker/index.js
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ class ModifierPickerMenu extends React.PureComponent {
     active: PropTypes.bool,
     onSelect: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
     onClose: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
+    modifier: PropTypes.number,
   };
 
   handleClick = e => {
@@ -165,20 +166,36 @@ class ModifierPickerMenu extends React.PureComponent {
 
   setRef = c => {
     this.node = c;
+    if (this.node) {
+      this.node.querySelector('li:first-child button').focus(); // focus the first element when opened
+    }
   }
 
   render () {
-    const { active } = this.props;
+    const { active, modifier } = this.props;
 
     return (
-      <div className='emoji-picker-dropdown__modifiers__menu' style={{ display: active ? 'block' : 'none' }} ref={this.setRef}>
-        <button onClick={this.handleClick} data-index={1}><Emoji emoji='fist' set='twitter' size={22} sheetSize={32} skin={1} backgroundImageFn={backgroundImageFn} /></button>
-        <button onClick={this.handleClick} data-index={2}><Emoji emoji='fist' set='twitter' size={22} sheetSize={32} skin={2} backgroundImageFn={backgroundImageFn} /></button>
-        <button onClick={this.handleClick} data-index={3}><Emoji emoji='fist' set='twitter' size={22} sheetSize={32} skin={3} backgroundImageFn={backgroundImageFn} /></button>
-        <button onClick={this.handleClick} data-index={4}><Emoji emoji='fist' set='twitter' size={22} sheetSize={32} skin={4} backgroundImageFn={backgroundImageFn} /></button>
-        <button onClick={this.handleClick} data-index={5}><Emoji emoji='fist' set='twitter' size={22} sheetSize={32} skin={5} backgroundImageFn={backgroundImageFn} /></button>
-        <button onClick={this.handleClick} data-index={6}><Emoji emoji='fist' set='twitter' size={22} sheetSize={32} skin={6} backgroundImageFn={backgroundImageFn} /></button>
-      </div>
+      <ul
+        className='emoji-picker-dropdown__modifiers__menu'
+        style={{ display: active ? 'block' : 'none' }}
+        role='menuitem'
+        ref={this.setRef}
+      >
+        {[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].map(i => (
+          <li
+            onClick={this.handleClick}
+            role='menuitemradio'
+            aria-checked={i === (modifier || 1)}
+            data-index={i}
+            key={i}
+          >
+            <Emoji
+              emoji='fist' set='twitter' size={22} sheetSize={32} skin={i}
+              backgroundImageFn={backgroundImageFn}
+            />
+          </li>
+        ))}
+      </ul>
     );
   }
 
@@ -210,10 +227,22 @@ class ModifierPicker extends React.PureComponent {
   render () {
     const { active, modifier } = this.props;
 
+    function setRef(ref) {
+      if (!ref) {
+        return;
+      }
+      // TODO: It would be nice if we could pass props directly to emoji-mart's buttons.
+      const button = ref.querySelector('button');
+      button.setAttribute('aria-haspopup', 'true');
+      button.setAttribute('aria-expanded', active);
+    }
+
     return (
       <div className='emoji-picker-dropdown__modifiers'>
-        <Emoji emoji='fist' set='twitter' size={22} sheetSize={32} skin={modifier} onClick={this.handleClick} backgroundImageFn={backgroundImageFn} />
-        <ModifierPickerMenu active={active} onSelect={this.handleSelect} onClose={this.props.onClose} />
+        <div ref={setRef}>
+          <Emoji emoji='fist' set='twitter' size={22} sheetSize={32} skin={modifier} onClick={this.handleClick} backgroundImageFn={backgroundImageFn} />
+        </div>
+        <ModifierPickerMenu active={active} modifier={modifier} onSelect={this.handleSelect} onClose={this.props.onClose} />
       </div>
     );
   }
diff --git a/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/styles/components/emoji.scss b/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/styles/components/emoji.scss
index dd386d698d6..ccfd42f2825 100644
--- a/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/styles/components/emoji.scss
+++ b/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/styles/components/emoji.scss
@@ -44,11 +44,11 @@
   box-shadow: 1px 2px 6px rgba($base-shadow-color, 0.2);
   overflow: hidden;
 
-  button {
+  li {
     display: block;
     cursor: pointer;
     border: 0;
-    padding: 4px 8px;
+    padding: 3px 8px;
     background: transparent;
 
     &:hover,
diff --git a/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/styles/components/emoji_picker.scss b/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/styles/components/emoji_picker.scss
index dcc551c5b22..17162335223 100644
--- a/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/styles/components/emoji_picker.scss
+++ b/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/styles/components/emoji_picker.scss
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+@import '~emoji-mart/css/emoji-mart.css';
+
 .emoji-mart {
   &,
   * {
@@ -51,6 +53,14 @@
 
   &:hover {
     color: darken($lighter-text-color, 4%);
+
+    svg {
+      fill: darken($lighter-text-color, 4%);
+    }
+  }
+
+  svg {
+    fill: $lighter-text-color;
   }
 }
 
@@ -59,11 +69,19 @@
 
   &:hover {
     color: darken($highlight-text-color, 4%);
+
+    svg {
+      fill: darken($highlight-text-color, 4%);
+    }
   }
 
   .emoji-mart-anchor-bar {
     bottom: 0;
   }
+
+  svg {
+    fill: $highlight-text-color;
+  }
 }
 
 .emoji-mart-anchor-bar {
@@ -83,7 +101,6 @@
   }
 
   svg {
-    fill: currentColor;
     max-height: 18px;
   }
 }
@@ -103,15 +120,14 @@
 }
 
 .emoji-mart-search {
-  padding: 10px;
-  padding-right: 45px;
+  margin: 10px 40px 10px 5px;
   background: $simple-background-color;
 
   input {
     font-size: 14px;
     font-weight: 400;
     padding: 7px 9px;
-    font-family: inherit;
+    font-family: $font-sans-serif;
     display: block;
     width: 100%;
     background: rgba($ui-secondary-color, 0.3);
@@ -166,6 +182,7 @@
     font-weight: 500;
     padding: 5px 6px;
     background: $simple-background-color;
+    font-family: $font-sans-serif;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/util/emoji/emoji_picker.js b/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/util/emoji/emoji_picker.js
index 044d38cb2b7..73fcaa8c854 100644
--- a/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/util/emoji/emoji_picker.js
+++ b/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/util/emoji/emoji_picker.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-import Picker from 'emoji-mart/dist-es/components/picker/picker';
-import Emoji from 'emoji-mart/dist-es/components/emoji/emoji';
+import Picker from 'emoji-mart/dist-modern/components/picker/picker';
+import Emoji from 'emoji-mart/dist-modern/components/emoji/emoji';
 
 export {
   Picker,