Farmer ordered to pay after judge says thumbs-up emoji amounts to contract acceptance
(www.theglobeandmail.com)
Context matters and I’d call this a straw man argument.
What context would the court need to give them enough information to pass a judgment?
Context 1) Spouse at the grocery store: "I was at the grocery store, felt horny, and texted my wife some emojis that implied some sexy time later. She replied with a thumbs up!"
Context 2) Spouse who received the text: "My husband, who was at the grocery store, texted me food emojis, which I thought was a grocery list, so I gave them a thumbs up to approve the list!".
In the specific case given by the OP, the person who sent the thumbs up said that they did so to acknowledge the receipt of the contract, not that they approved the contract. That would be enough context for me to understand that they did not intend to use the thumbs up to "sign" the contract.
It should have been up to the court to recognized that unless both parties understand the method of agreement for this given contract, that it could not have possibly been binding.