Under pressure, ‘soft and fluffy’ Canva takes harder line on Russia

One of Australia’s largest technology companies, graphic design firm Canva, has taken a harder line against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine after it faced pressure from local activists and received the worst possible ranking on a list of global companies for their responses to the war.

In a blog post updated on Tuesday after questions from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht said that “like billions of people around the world, we are strongly opposed to the ongoing war in Ukraine and strongly condemn Russia’s continued and illegal acts of aggression”.

Canva’s templates to call for peace in Ukraine.

Obrecht’s forceful condemnation is a departure from Canva’s previous public comments, which emphasised a pro-peace outlook. Canva’s free services remain accessible in Russia, but the company said in its statement it cut off payments in and out of the country, including for subscriptions, on March 1.

Its decision not to pull its software entirely from Russia, which Canva says is so that users in the country can design protest images against the war, had triggered a furious response from Australian Ukrainian technology workers.

Uri Levitsky, a senior Australian Ukrainian technology worker, said in an emailed statement before Canva updated its blog that the company’s claim was “grotesquely illogical” because polls suggested 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,” Levitsky said.

He said the Australian Ukrainian diaspora was “appalled” and considering peacefully protesting outside Canva’s inner Sydney offices later this week.

Another Australian Ukrainian community leader, who declined to be named, said if Canva left Russia it would be a small inconvenience that could prompt other companies to do the same and build pressure against the war.

“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 said.

In an emailed statement, Canva’s spokesman Lachlan Andrews said the company had held discussions with Ukrainian communities, donated $1 million to Ukrainian contributors and charities on the ground, and created pro-peace design templates that have been used more than 275,000 times globally.

Cliff Obrecht’s forceful condemnation is a departure from Canva’s previous public comments.

He said Canva’s terms of use prohibited its service from being used to promote violence and while the company had not seen that occurring, it would not hesitate to act if it did.

“Since early March, we’ve had prominent banners visible in both our global product (including Russia) highlighting the illegal war in Ukraine and the templates available to join the calls for peace,” Andrews said. “We’ve long accepted the fact that taking this outspoken approach is likely to result in Canva being blocked by the Russian government, however, until then, we believe we have an important responsibility to use our reach, particularly with our 1.4 million users in Russia, to promote truth and accurate information.”

The Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, a non-profit affiliated with America’s prestigious Yale University that acts as a management training and professional development organisation, rates companies from A for completely severing ties with Russia - which has been awarded to firms such as the streaming service Netflix - through to F, for continuing to work in the country. Canva is the only Australian company awarded the F grade.

Canva’s Andrews said the company had asked the organisation to correct what it sees as a misrepresentation. “While Canva is still available in Russia, we’ve taken similar actions to many of the higher-rated companies by blocking all payments and proactively displaying our opposition to the war,” he said.

Another Australian tech giant, Atlassian, drew internal criticism for its initially milquetoast approach to Russia’s invasion. It later apologised and toughened its stance by halting sales and suspending software licenses, though it said it would not terminate licenses held by Russian small businesses.

Russia has been accused of war crimes, having devastated Ukrainian cities since its unprovoked invasion of the country in early February. Its military has been revealed to be much less powerful than analysts had expected, and fierce Ukrainian resistance has handed it a series of defeats including pushing back a Russian attempt to take the capital, Kyiv. The conflict is now centred on the east of Ukraine, where the two armies are fighting village by village.

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