The Notoriously Annoying Thumbs-Up EmojiCan Now Be Used as a Signature on a Legal Contract as a Canadian Farmer Ended Up Paying $82000 in Fines

Emojis have been around for a long, long time. I remember I saw them in a Nokia 3310, and I am sure any phone that supported symbols had a way to use them. However, as time has gone by, these have evolved into something different and modern-day options are a lot different. Today, however, we have come across the fact that the notoriously annoying thumbs-up Emoji can now be used as a signature in a legal contract and will be admissible in court.

Think twice the next time you use the thumbs-up Emoji to agree to something

According to information obtained by The Globe And Mail, the Court of King's Bench has ruled that the thumbs-up Emoji is now enough to make the contract legally minding. This happened in a recent ruling taking place in Saskatchewan.

The case focuses on Kent Mickleborough, a Canadian grain buyer and in March 2021, he sent out text messages to several farmers in the vicinity talking about how he was looking to buy 86 tons of flax at a price of CAD $17 per bushel. Chris Achter, a Canadian Farmer, responded to the text, and both got into correspondence on the phone. Mickleborough then proceeded to send a picture of the contract to Achter, asking him to confirm the contract.

All of this sounds good so far, right? Well, here is teh funny part. You see, Achter responded to the text using a thumbs-up Emoji. But that was the end of it, Mickleborough never received the flax, and therefore, he decided to sue Achter and claimed that the response he received was an agreement to the terms mentioned in the contract, which Achter was in clear violation of.

What's even more surprising is that Justice Timothy Keene actually agreed with Mickleborough and mentioned how "This court readily acknowledges that a (thumbs-up) 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.'” Keen even referred to the meaning of the thumbs-up expression and how it means that this is considered an accepted affirmation.

The accused, Chris Achter, raised a fair point as well by talking about how the thumbs-up Emoji was just a response to tell Mickleborough that he had received the contract, and it did not, in any way, mean that he's read or agreed to the contract.

What this means for Achter is that he will now have to pay Mickleborough CAD $82,000 for not delivering the flax. Honestly, the thumbs-up Emoji is pretty annoying, and a lot of people send it, but I never really knew that sending something so harmless could have such dire consequences. In the meantime, I would only suggest that you be careful in such situations as you surely don't want to pay a hefty fine.

Written by Furqan Shahid