A Canadian judge has ruled that a thumbs up emoji can signal contractual acceptance. The case was, unsurprisingly, very fact specific. There was a longstanding previous course of dealing between the claimant (a grain buyer) and the defendant (a farmer): the claimant would typically text contracts to the defendant who would accept them by responding with a “Looks good”, an “Ok” or a “Yup”. On this occasion, after the claimant texted a contract for the purchase of flax to the defendant, the defendant responded with a 👍. The claimant took that to mean the contract was accepted, the defendant argued the 👍 simply meant that the text message itself had been received. 

After hearing arguments on the meaning of the 👍 (and the defendant’s counsel tersely objecting that his client was “not an expert in emojis”), the judge turned to the (online) dictionary definition: “it is used to express assent, approval or encouragement in digital communications, especially in western cultures”. With this and the previous dealings between the claimant and defendant in mind, the judge found in favour of the claimant; the contract had been accepted and damages were owed. 

It remains to be seen whether the courts of England and Wales will take the same view as and when a similar question comes before them (it is surely a question of when, not if). In the meantime, this will serve as an novel cautionary tale that raises some interesting points around the use and interpretation of emojis and also the lack of formality needed to form a binding contract.