Many well-known companies stopped their business operations in Russia because of the attacks on Ukraine. But Canva has not fully done so until it was demoed. What's the boss's response?
Canva is known as a design software that has recently become very popular and has a valuation of over USD 55 billion. Its founder Melanie Perkins, became one of the richest people in Australia.
So recently, demonstrators visited Canva's office in Sydney. They want Canva completely away from Russia. "Canva, stop paying for the war," read one of the demonstrators' banners.
Canva has actually stopped paying for its services in Russia, but their software can still be used. "Canva is still doing business in Russia so they're paying for the war in Ukraine," the protesters chanted.
Cliff Obrecht, Melanie's husband and also part of the birth of Canva, explained the reasons why Canva is still operating in Russia. He condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Like billions of people around the world, we oppose the war in Ukraine and strongly condemn Russia's illegal aggression," he said in a statement.
Well, Canva can still be used to get Russians to make anti-war designs. "Our pro-peace templates have been used more than 275,000 times since the start of the war," he said.
"Our hope is to provide Russian citizens with a platform to communicate their resistance to war and join the call for peace," he said.
However, not a few also use Canva to support the Russian war. "In the absence of moderation, the amount of pro-war material using Canva by users in Russia exceeds anti-war material. This benefits the Kremlin's propaganda machine," protested Ukrainian software engineer Uvi Levitski.