Australians have been urged to show care with their emoji use - particularly in business scenarios involving official documents - after a Canadian judge ruled a thumbs-up is just as valid as a signature.

The legal stoush played out after a photo of a contract to buy grain was sent via text — along with the message “Please confirm flax contract” — to a supplier.

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The supplier responded with a thumbs-up emoji but, months later, never delivered the goods.

Court documents showed the farmer had argued the emoji had been used only to confirm he had received the contract and that he would review it at a later date, not that he was agreeing to its terms.

A judge disagreed, saying he was satisfied “on the balance of probabilities” the contract had been okayed with the use of an emoji and ordered the farmer to pay the buyer US$82,000 (AU$122,000) plus interest and costs for failing to deliver the flax.

While half a world away, an employment law expert on our shores says the decision could have “persuasive value in Australian courts” and that there’s “nothing stopping a judge citing this decision” here.

“An Australian court can consider this legal decision when making a ruling. It can be thought of as a suggestion or advice from another court,” Slater and Gordon’s head of national industrial and employment law Andrew Rich...

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