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Canadian judge rules the thumbs up emoji counts as a contract agreement (www.engadget.com)

submitted 1 year ago by cyu@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.ml

35 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1255003

A Canadian judge has ruled that the popular “thumbs-up” emoji not only can be used as a contract agreement, but is just as valid as an actual signature. The Saskatchewan-based judge made the ruling on the grounds that the courts must adapt to the “new reality” of how people communicate, as originally reported by The Guardian.

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[–] kevincox@lemmy.ml 44 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A lot of people don't understand that there is nothing magical about a written contract with a signature. If you agree to something you have a contract. It doesn't matter if it is written, spoken, gestured or anything else. Written contracts with signatures are often preferred because it is very clear that there was an agreement and what was agreed to. But just about any method of agreeing is just as binding.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.ml -2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Like you said, written contracts lack vagueness. The interaction leading to the Thumbs Up was pretty damn vague. Validates my refusal to ever use emojis.

[–] kevincox@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have you read the article? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/06/canada-judge-thumbs-up-emoji-sign-contract. I think that the thumbs up was actually pretty clear in this case. He had a history of accepting contracts which had already been discussed verbally with a short text like "Ok" or "Looks good". It seems very likely that "👍" meant the same thing.

Emoji doesn't have anything to do with it. The fact is that he was responding to a legal agreement informally. There is really no difference between "Looks good" and "👍". This is only a story because he tried to weasel out when the price shot up.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.ml -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes. The fact that an emoji was ever an acceptable acknowledgement bothers me.

[–] Jikiya@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I will be sure to get off your lawn. 👍