What initiated as a regular dispute over a contract in rural Canada has brought about an unprecedented legal precedent for the age of the internet: An emoji represents a legally binding agreement.
English
Thumbs-up Emoji Ruled a Legally Binding Contract by Canadian Court
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Thanks to technology, Keene argued, emoji have become a common feature of modern communication, something the legal system will have to confront moving forward.
“This Court cannot (nor should it) attempt to stem the tide of technology and common usage — 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 emoji and the like,” Keene concluded.
At issue was a dispute between a farmer, Chris Achter, and a grain processing cooperative in southwestern Saskatchewan. During the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the grain cooperative stopped sending its salespeople to deal with farmers face-to-face and instead handled contracts by phone or email.
The cooperative claimed that both parties entered a deferred delivery purchase contract for 87 metric tons of flax in 2021, with an agreement to pay 669.26 Canadian dollars (about $500) per ton.
According to court records, a cooperative employee drafted a contract that listed “Nov.” as the delivery period, signed it, and took a photo of it on his cellphone. He then sent it to Achter, along with the phrase “Please confirm flax contract.” In response, Achter texted back a thumbs-up emoji.
However, the grain never arrived, prompting the cooperative to sue for breach of contract and insist that the emoji constituted an agreement.
In a deposition, Achter countered that he had not intended for the emoji to serve as a signature.
“I confirm that the thumbs-up emoji simply confirmed that I received the flax contract,” Achter said. “It was not a confirmation that I agreed with the terms of the Flax Contract. The full terms and conditions of the Flax Contract were not sent to me, and I understood that the complete contract would follow by fax or email for me to review and sign.”
Achter added that he regularly exchanged texts with the salesperson, and many of those texts were informal. As supporting evidence, he presented texts showing a joke that the salesperson had previously sent him.
