Sending Thumbs-Up Emoji Amounts To Contract Agreement, Canadian Court Rules

A farmer lands in trouble after a Canadian court rules that his 'thumbs-up' text was an agreement to a contract.

The Saskatchewan court acknowledged that emoji is a “non-traditional means to sign a document”.

Source : Representational Image/Getty

A farmer in Saskatchewan, Canada officially "signed" a contract by simply sending a ‘thumbs-up emoji’, a Canadian court ruled. According to The New York Times report, the case was on whether the farmer named Chris Archter agreed to sell 87 metric tons of flax to a grain buyer, Kent Mickleborough, in 2021. The grain buyer signed the contract and sent a photo of it to the farmer via text messages, who then replied with a ‘thumbs-up’ emoji. 

Mickleborough said that along with the photo, he sent a text, “Please confirm flax contract.”, when Archter sent the 👍 emoji, Mickleborough understood that the farmer had agreed to the contract, the report mentioned. The judge underlined that the two had a longstanding business relationship. For example, when Mickleborough sent Achter contracts for durum wheat via texts, Archter had responded with “yup”, “ok” or “looks good”. 

Both parties understood that these were words of confirmation to the contract and “not a mere acknowledgement of the receipt of the contract” by Archter, Justice T.J. Keene of the Court of King’s Bench for Saskatchewan said. The farmer had even delivered grain as per the contract and was paid as agreed. 

Justice Keene in June ruled that the flax seed contract was valid and that the farmer breached it by failing to deliver the flax. He ordered the farmer to pay damages of 82,200 Canadian dollars. 

The Saskatchewan court acknowledged that 👍 emoji is a “non-traditional means to sign a document”, however, under the circumstances it was valid. Archter had sent the text through his mobile number and conveyed his acceptance of the flax contract, Justice Keene wrote, as reported by The New York Times.

Eric Goldman, a law professor and co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law, commented on the case and said that the thumbs-up emoji is used by young people sarcastically or disingenuously. Some even used it as an acceptance but more like an “uh-huh”. 

Archer’s lawyer, Jean-Pierre Jordaan said that the ruling will open up floodgates of cases asking the meaning of different other emojis, such as a handshake or a fist.