This is 99% Invisible.

I'm Roman Mars.

Back in 2021, Chris Octor, a farmer in Saskatchewan, Canada, was hashing out a contract with a buyer interested in purchasing some of his flax.

And they've dealt with each other before.

They've formed contracts before.

This is Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University Law School. And he says that the farmer,

Chris, and the buyer had a history. They would often discuss these grain orders over text.

And so they're working on a new contract for this year's crop. And the buyer sends over a standard form that says,

here's the offer for buying your flax. And the seller responds with the thumbs up emoji.

Between discussing the contract in March and the delivery date in November, the price of flax increased.

That's producer Talandstradley.

That year, there was a drought, and the flax harvest was smaller than many farmers expected.

As the supply of flax went down, its price went up.

This would have been a good thing for the buyer,

who thought they locked in their contract earlier that year at the lower price.

But when November rolled around, no flax was delivered.

The misunderstanding goes back to that thumbs-up emoji.

The buyer thought Chris was agreeing to the contract,

but Chris, the seller, had a different perspective.

The seller explaining the thumbs-up emoji says,

I was just acknowledging receipt.

I wasn't agreeing to the terms,

...