Canva seriously criticised for continuing to operate in Russia

The Australian tech giant has been hit by controversy with Ukrainians in Australia calling out the company for being “unprincipled”.

Graphic design firm Canva has copped serious criticism for still operating in Russia, as it became the only Australian company to earn the worst possible ranking on a list of global company’s responses to Ukraine’s invasion.

The tracker, ran by US university Yale, found almost 1000 companies had announced they were voluntarily curtailing operations to some degree beyond the bare minimum required by legal sanctions.

The Yale tracker originally marked Canva with an ‘F’ rating claiming it was “digging in” with offering its services but after public outrage, the tech company clarified its position sending its ranking up to a ‘C’.

This means it was still providing services to Russia but had suspended payments, according to the Yale tracker.

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Canva founders Cliff Obrecht and Melanie Perkins. Source: Max Doyle

Canva, which boasts more than 60 million active users and is valued at least $37 billion, said it had suspended payments to and from Russia on March 1, had donated $1 million to Ukrainian contributors and charities and also directed users to its “pro-peace and anti-war templates”.

Canva’s head of communications, Lachlan Andrew, told The Guardian the company wanted to use its reach – with 1.4 million Russian users – to “promote truth and accurate information”.

But Ukrainian expat and software engineer Uvi Levitski, who now lives in Australia, is a part of an informal group who has been monitoring the actions of companies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He described Canva’s action as “inconsistent” with what the group believed should be an “ethical company’s response” and they were “appalled” by the firm’s “unprincipled position”.

Canva said its decision not to pull its software entirely from Russia was to enable users to design protest images against the war, but Mr Levitski said the majority of Russians supported the war.

“It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that, in the absence of any moderation of private content, the amount of pro-war material made using Canva by users in Russia will similarly outweigh anti-war material, thus disproportionately benefiting the already all-powerful Kremlin propaganda machine,” he told the Guardian.

“And that’s even ignoring the fact that public opposition to the war has been effectively criminalised and is punishable with up to 15 years of imprisonment.”

Hundreds of demonstrators, mainly Ukrainian refugees living in Prague, hold Ukrainian flags and placards as they take part in an anti-war protest on the Old Town square in Prague. Picture: Michal Cizek/AFP

Another Australian Ukrainian community leader, who wanted to remain anonymous, also told The Sydney Morning Herald, that leaving Russia would be a “small inconvenience” for Canva and would place pressure on other companies.

“For Canva, as an iconic Australian company, this darling unicorn that is all soft and fluffy and claims to be driven by pure ideals, for this company to leave Russia is critically important for us,” he told the newspaper.

McDonald’s announced on Monday it will exit the Russian market entirely and sell its 850 branches in the increasingly isolated country.

Mr Levitski had also hit out at Canva’s March 4 blogpost written by co-founder Cliff Obrecht, which he described as “weakly worded” as it did not mention the word ‘invasion’ or ‘war’, instead describing the situation as an “unlawful and reckless act of aggression”.

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Following the public outrage, Canva updated its blog post on Wednesday stating the company was “strongly opposed to the ongoing war in Ukraine and strongly condemn Russia’s continued and illegal acts of aggression”.

It said its pro-peace templates have been used more than 275,000 times since the start of the war and it had not seen “any evidence of Canva being used for the wrong reason” but continued to monitor the situation.

Ukrainians stage a protest outside of the UN during special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the war in Ukraine, in Geneva on May 12, 2022. Picture: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

Other Aussie companies also appeared on the Yale list, but with much more favourable ratings.

Tech giant Atlassian, founded by Aussies Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar which has had its share price tumble about 60 per cent since November, gained a ‘B’ rating which means they have temporarily curtailed nearly all or most operations. Atlassian has suspended its software sales to Russia.

Energy company Viva also attracted the same rating as it suspended purchases of Russian oil.

Companies that had attracted an ‘A’ ranking – recognised for halting Russian engagements or completely exiting the country – included Qantas, mining giant Rio Tinto and law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.