A Canadian judge has ruled that the thumbs-up emoji can be recognized as a valid means of sealing a contract, equivalent to a signature, because it is a common mode of communication and courts should not “try to stop the tide of technology and common use”. “.

‘Emojis’ are used daily in communication through instant messages, whether through social networks, instant messaging applications or SMS. In this sense, these symbols that imitate everyday gestures such as smileys or handshakes are now part of the common language of users.

In this context, a Canadian judge ruled in a recent case that sending a message with the “thumbs up emoji” can be interpreted as a valid means of formally sealing a contract.

Indeed, this same judge indicated that, although it is a new means, it is a “valid” means of conveying the purposes of a business, since it is common mode of communication and that the courts “cannot and should not attempt to stem the wave of technology.

This was reflected in the summary evidence of the trial to which this case refers, in which a farmer and a flax buyer clashed over a breach of contract, and which ended up deciding in favor of the buyer, who will have to receive 82,000 Canadian dollars (about 56,278 euros) from the farmer.

Specifically, the case took place in a court of King’s Bench, in the province of Saskatchewan (Canada) where, according to what has been exposed, a farmer responded with the “thumbs up emoji” to a message in which a contract was sent to buy flax The buyer thought it was a contract validation message, but the farmer disagrees: “I just wanted to indicate that I received your text message,” he alleged.

As noted, the buyer sent the contract for said purchase via message, followed by the text “confirm linen contract”. After that, the farmer replied with the “emoji”, and there was no further interaction between the two. Indeed, the agreed linen was not delivered.

The farmer claimed that the buyer had not sent him the complete terms and conditions of the contract and, in this sense, he understood that the complete contract would be sent to him later by email. Therefore, he sent the “emoji” intending to imply that “he had received the message” but denies “having accepted the thumbs-up emoji as the digital signature of the incomplete contract”.

However, the case, assigned to Canadian judge Timothy Keene, was settled in favor of the buyer, since the “thumb emoji” was recognized as a means of sealing a contract, as it is a symbol that implies acceptance and which is commonly used.

“This court readily acknowledges that an ’emoji’ is a non-traditional way to sign a document, but nonetheless, in these circumstances, it was a valid way to convey both the purposes of a signature and to convey the acceptance of the linen contract”, said the judge.

So, regarding its validity as a signature, Keene clarified that the signer can be identified using their unique phone number as a record.

In this regard, the farmer’s lawyer said that by accepting this ‘thumb emoji’ as a form of ‘identity and acceptance’ they are ‘opening doors’ to allow more cases to be presented. which require interpretations of the meaning of the various symbols. ’emoji’.

“The courts will be inundated with all kinds of cases if this court determines that the thumbs-up emoji can replace a signature,” the farmer’s attorney said. To which Justice Keene nuanced that this seems to be “the new reality of Canadian society” and that, therefore, the courts “will have to be prepared to deal with the new challenges that may arise from the use of emojis and the like “.