Thumbs-Up Emoji Costs Farmer $61K

A Canadian farmer is out more than $61,000 after a judge in Saskatchewan ruled that a thumbs-up emoji he sent a client amounted to a contractual agreement—which the farmer then failed to deliver on. Kent Mickleborough, a grain buyer, first texted in March of 2021 regarding an order of 94 tons of flax at about $13 a bushel for delivery in November, the CBC reports. He later spoke to farmer Chris Achter on the phone about the order, and still later texted Achter a picture of a contract for the November delivery along with the message, "please confirm flax contract." That's when Achter sent the thumbs-up emoji. The flax, however, was not delivered in November, which is when Mickleborough took the matter to court, the BBC reports.

Achter's explanation of the thumbs-up was that, "I did not have time to review the Flax Contract and merely wanted to indicate that I did receive his text message." But Mickleborough argued that during their business relationship, Achter had previously agreed to contracts via text, so he thought the deal was done. The judge agreed with him, ruling an emoji could be used as a digital signature, and fining Achter for failing to fulfill the contract. (More emoji stories.)