Canadian farmer fined for thumbs-up emoji

You may need to rethink the next thumbs-up emoji you send to express assent as it may be interpreted as a digital signature.

A farmer in Canada was fined a hefty sum for doing so in response to a text message of a contract.

Chris Achter argued it was to acknowledge receipt, but a judge saw it as a contractual agreement.

He must now pay C$82,000 ($61,610; £48,310) for not failing to fulfil the contract.

Farmer Achter in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan failed to deliver 86 tonnes of flax that grain buyer Kent Mickleborough was looking to purchase in 2021, prompting Mr Mickleborough to take the matter to court.

Mr Mickleborough said he spoke with Mr Achter on the phone about his potential purchase, saying that he was looking to buy the grain in November of that year.

He then texted the farmer a draft of a contract to seal the deal, writing "please confirm flax contract".

Mr Achter responded with a "thumbs-up" emoji, but did not deliver the flax by the agreed date.

Mr Mickleborough said that he had a long-standing business relationship with Mr Achter, and that the farmer had agreed to contracts via text message in the past, prompting him to believe that the emoji sealed the deal.

But according to his sworn affidavit, Mr Achter said the thumbs-up emoji "simply confirmed that I received the flax contract. It was not a confirmation that I agreed with the terms of the flax contract".

He leaned on a Dictionary.com definition of the emoji, which states that "it is used to express assent, approval or encouragement in digital communications".

"I am not sure how authoritative that is but this seems to comport with my understanding from my everyday use - even as a late comer to the world of technology," Justice Keene wrote.

He added that while a signature is the "classic representation" of confirming someone's identity, that does not prevent an individual from using modern-day methods - like emojis - to confirm a contract, and that an emoji can be used as a digital signature.

"This court readily acknowledges that a thumbs-up emoji is a non-traditional means to 'sign' a document," Justice Keene wrote. " But nevertheless under these circumstances this was a valid way to convey the two purposes of a 'signature'", he said - to identify the signatory, which is done using Mr Achter's unique cell phone number, and to convey acceptance of the flax contract.

"I agree that this case is novel (at least in Saskatchewan) but nevertheless this Court cannot (nor should it) attempt to stem the tide of technology and common usage," Justice Keene concluded.