Emoticons and Pre-Contractual Liability.

Emoticons or emojis, also known as smiley faces, are stylized representations of common facial expressions. The term “emoticon” is a portmanteau of the English words “emotion” and “icon,” used to describe a small image that depicts our most common emotions. By now, however, the original set of emoticons—comprising the typical smile, laugh, pout, cry, huff, and so on—has expanded to include symbols and images of all kinds. 
These little drawings, used primarily on the internet and in messages to add nonverbal elements to written communication, have become so common that, according to some, they constitute a true new digital language.

In this regard, it is interesting to note what happened recently in Israel, where a landlord successfully sued a couple who had misled him by sending a message full of emojis. 
More specifically, the landlord, Yaniv Dahan, posted an ad to rent his home on a real estate website, where the unfortunate couple responded, according to the judge, by expressing their intent to rent. In fact, after the two young people responded to the ad, Mr. Dahan removed his listing, but the couple never responded again. The case was then brought before the court, which, among the evidence used against the defendants, considered part of the text written in response to the ad, containing images depicting various expressions and objects, from the “V” sign made with the fingers to a ballerina or an uncorked bottle of champagne.
The judge ruled in favor of Dahan, ordering the couple to pay approximately two thousand dollars in damages for pre-contractual liability. Specifically, the judge justified his decision by explaining that the emojis used by the couple, including the bottle and the ballerina, indicated optimism and positivity and, therefore, the intention to enter into the lease agreement. Although this message did not constitute a binding contract between the parties, according to the judge, it was sufficient to give rise to a legitimate expectation regarding the intention to enter into one in the future.

Certainly, and this is now a daily experience shared by most people, emojis are intuitive and immediate symbols, as they convey a feeling or a reference that would be difficult to put into words—and, above all, would take longer to spell out in full. 
One might wonder, however, whether these cute little faces—in addition to simplifying life and clearing up ambiguities by clarifying a concept—have not replaced a good portion of our feelings, or rather the willingness to express them, making virtual communication lighter and more thoughtless, and therefore less representative of the individual’s true intentions.

For now, this Israeli ruling is an isolated case, but it certainly gives us pause to reflect on this issue and be careful about what we write ;-)