One man’s thumbs-up emoji is another’s sign-on-the-dotted-line, according to a judge in Saskatchewan, Canada, who ruled that an emoji can amount to a contractual agreement.
A buyer with grain distributor South West Terminal sent a text to farmers in March 2021 saying that the company was looking to buy 86 tons of flax for $17 per bushel to be delivered in the fall, according to CBC News.
The buyer, Kent Mickleborough, later spoke with Swift Current farmer Chris Achter on the phone and texted a picture of a contract to deliver the flax in November, adding “please confirm flax contract.” Mr. Achter texted back a thumbs-up emoji. But when November came around, the flax was not delivered and prices for the crop had increased, according to the news report.
In ruling in favor of the buyer, the judge ordered the farmer to pay more than $82,000 for not delivering the product to a grain buyer after responding to a text message with a thumbs-up image, according to the news report.
“This court readily acknowledges that a (thumbs-up) emoji is a nontraditional means to ‘sign’ a document but nevertheless under these circumstances this was a valid way to convey the two purposes of a ‘signature,’” the judge wrote.
