Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is investigating whether Canva users’ designs, images, documents, and other uploaded content may have been used to develop or improve AI-powered features without users clearly understanding or affirmatively agreeing to that use.
Canva’s current terms state that users retain ownership of the content they upload. Canva also states that its Privacy Settings determine whether certain User Content may be used by Canva and its trusted partners to develop and improve AI-powered features.
For many ordinary users, Canva can contain highly valuable original material, including business designs, marketing graphics, presentations, photographs, illustrations, branding assets, social-media content, and other creative work.
What We Are Investigating
Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is investigating whether Canva adequately informed users about when their uploaded content could be used to improve AI-powered features and whether users were given a meaningful opportunity to control that use.
We are investigating whether:
- Canva clearly disclosed when ordinary users’ content could be used for AI development;
- users affirmatively chose to allow their content to be used;
- older content uploaded before current AI disclosures became eligible for later AI use;
- privacy settings were presented clearly and prominently;
- users understood the difference between using Canva’s AI tools and allowing their own content to improve those tools;
- third-party service providers could access content for AI-related purposes consistent with users’ settings; and
- Canva adequately explained what happened to content already used before a user changed their settings.
Canva’s older terms are particularly relevant because archived versions expressly described AI use as something a user would opt in to through privacy settings. Current terms instead state that use of content for AI-powered features depends on the user’s Privacy Settings.
That raises questions about whether the user experience, defaults, and disclosures changed over time.
Canva Creators and Ordinary Users
Canva also treats certain content differently depending on the type of account.
Canva states that participants in its Canva Creator program can opt out of having their templates used for AI training and may receive compensation when their content is used. Canva has separately stated that content from Teams, Business, Enterprise, and Education users is not used to improve AI-powered features.
Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is particularly interested in ordinary individual Canva users whose original content may have been subject to different AI-training settings and who did not receive Creator compensation.
Potential Claims May Include:
- unfair or deceptive trade practices;
- inadequate disclosure concerning use of user-created content;
- breach of contract or related contractual claims;
- unjust enrichment;
- privacy-related claims; and
- claims involving the commercial use of creative content for AI development.
Signs You May Be Affected:
- You used Canva with an individual account;
- you uploaded original photographs, illustrations, graphics, presentations, designs, or other creative material;
- you created commercially valuable designs or branding materials in Canva;
- you did not know your content could potentially be used to improve AI-powered features;
- you later discovered AI-related options in Canva’s Privacy Settings;
- you do not remember affirmatively opting in to AI training;
- you changed your privacy settings after learning how Canva could use your content;
- you used Canva before the current AI-training disclosures were introduced; or
- you have screenshots, older terms, emails, or account notices showing how the AI setting was presented.
If you uploaded original content to Canva and believe it may have been used to improve AI-powered features without your informed consent, we would like to hear from you.
Please complete the contact form on this page, send us an email at [email protected], or give us a call.