"Photographers and creative professionals should be careful how they respond to a client, especially in this age of casual emails and off-the-cuff text messaging."
https://petapixel.com/2023/07/10/a-thum … dge-rules/

"A Saskatchewan court rules emoji is just as valid as a signature and orders a farmer to pay $61,442 for unfulfilled contract."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ … n-contract

Do courts in the USA rule the same way ?

I read some much more detailed reports on the Judge's ruling.  Some clarification will help...

A VERBAL CONTRACT is usually (with a few exceptions) legally binding, as it is with many cases in the U.S.

But the PROBLEM with verbal contracts is trying to PROVE what was actually said and agreed to.  Which is why they usually aren't worth the paper that they AREN'T written on, as it becomes a "he said / she said" legal mess.

In this case, the Judge used the text message and emoji response, as supporting evidence for what the verbal contract was.  What's more, there was a history between the two parties of fairly informal past agreements.

It should also be noted, that the farmer TRIED (much later) to claim that he only meant the "thumbs up" emoji as a "I will consider it later and let you know" message, rather than a "yes" message.  The Judge didn't believe him based on his past agreement text message exchanges, PLUS the fact that the farmer NEVER DID follow up later (as he suggested the message "should" have been read as), and a bit of common-sense when you put it all those facts together.   It appears to be a convenient excuse / reinterpretation claim made much later by the farmer, only AFTER he didn't deliver on his end of the agreement.

But, once again, the key legal point is this:

It was a VERBAL contract, which is legally binding, and the text messages (including the "thumbs up" emoji, with no later follow-up) were SUPPORTING EVIDENCE that helped back up what the verbal agreement was.

Steve Lehto:
'Thumbs Up' Emoji Created Legally Binding Contract
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35AdAMYuo5M