Canadian court rules emoji valid as contractual agreement: report

A Canadian judge has ruled that the widely used thumbs-up emoji can confirm that a person is legally entering into a contract.

According According to a New York Times report, Judge TJ Keene said the decision reflects “a new reality in Canadian society” as more people use emoji to express themselves in all kinds of situations, including business transactions.

The case sought to determine whether a farmer had agreed to sell tons of flax to a grain buyer in 2021. According to the report, the buyer sent the purchase contract to the farmer, and wrote “Please confirm the hemp contract”.

Upon receiving a thumbs-up emoji as a reply, he understood that Farmer was “agreeing to a contract” and that the emoji was “his way” of accepting it. Farmer, on the other hand, said that the emoji was to confirm that he “received the Suns’ contract”.

The judge noted that the farmer and the buyer had a long-standing business relationship, and that the farmer had responded to previous sales agreements with messages such as “Looking good”, “Okay” or “Yeah”. In the decision, Justice Keane referred to the diction.com definition of the thumbs-up emoji: “used to express agreement, approval or encouragement, especially in digital communication in Western cultures.”

Eric Goldman, a law professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law, told the Times that despite the decision, the meaning of the thumbs-up emoji remains an open question on a case-by-case basis. The professor said some young people may use the emoji in a sarcastic or sarcastic way, while others may use it to confirm receipt of a message. The gesture could also be offensive in some Middle Eastern countries, he said. “This case reminds people that using the thumbs up emoji can have serious legal consequences,” Goldman said.

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