“New Reality”: Canada Court Says Thumbs Up Emoji Can Represent Contract Agreement

The judge said that court must adjust to the “new reality” of how people interact.

In an unusual incident, the “thumbs-up” emoji has been considered similar to a person’s signature by a Canadian judge, who ordered a farmer to pay $61,442 (Rs 50.7 lakh) for breach of contract, claiming that courts must adjust to the “new reality” of how people interact, as per a report in The Guardian.

In a recent case, the Court of King’s Bench in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan heard that a grain buyer sent a broadcast message to his clients in March 2021 announcing that his company was planning to acquire 86 tonnes of flax at a price of $12.73 (Rs 1051) per bushel. Kent Mickleborough, the buyer, called farmer Chris Achter and sent him a message requesting him to “please confirm flax contract,” along with a photo of the contract for the delivery of the grain in November.

Mr Achter replied to the message with a thumbs-up emoji. However, he failed to deliver the flax in November, and by that time, agricultural prices had shot up. Later, the interpretation of the emoji was contested by Mr Mickleborough and the farmer. The buyer cited earlier contracts and asserted that Mr Achter’s use of the thumbs-up emoji suggested that he accepted the contract’s conditions. On the other hand, the farmer claimed that the emoji just indicated that he had received the contract in the message.

In an affidavit, the farmer said, “I deny that he accepted the thumbs-up emoji as a digital signature of the incomplete contract. I did not have time to review the Flax Contract and merely wanted to indicate that I did receive his text message.”

Justice Timothy Keene noted that the emoji is a “non-traditional means to ‘sign’ a document, but nevertheless, under these circumstances, this was a valid way to convey the two purposes of a signature.” He also disregarded defence worries that permitting the thumbs-up emoji to imply approval “would open up the floodgates” to new interpretations of other emojis, such as the “fist bump” and “handshake.” 

“This appears to be the new reality in Canadian society and courts will have to be ready to meet the new challenges that may arise from the use of emojis and the like,” he said.