Canva, the popular graphic design platform, has apologised after users discovered its new AI-powered Magic Layers feature was automatically replacing the word "Palestine" with "Ukraine" in user designs without permission or warning.
The issue went viral on Saturday, April 26, when X user @ros_ie9, who first publicly discovered it, posted a side-by-side screenshot showing the tool changed the text in the graphic reading "A cat for Palestine" to "A cat for Ukraine"
Some X users who saw the tweet quickly replicated the error before Canva deployed a fix on Sunday, April 27. The word "Palestine" was consistently swapped for "Ukraine," while related terms like "Gaza" remained unchanged.
Following the AI bias and propaganda concerns, Journalist Caitlin Johnstone shared on X, April 28, describing three recent examples of AI systems producing outputs favourable to geopolitical narratives, including Canva's word replacement, Israeli deepfake videos, and altered translations from Grok AI.
Magic Layers Changed Political Text Without User Input
Magic Layers is Canva's new AI feature that breaks down flat images into separate pieces you can edit individually. It launched on March 11, 2026, and is reportedly supposed to help users modify designs without starting over.
According to Gizmodo, the feature converts flat images into editable layers inside Canva's editor. It is not designed to alter visible text or make any changes to user content.
When @ros_ie9 activated Magic Layers on their pro-Palestine poster, the AI made the unauthorized text change during processing. The issue appeared limited specifically to the word "Palestine."
Canva Apologized But Root Cause Remains Unclear
Canva spokesperson Louisa Green told The Verge that the company moved quickly to investigate and fix the issue. "We take reports like this very seriously, and we're putting additional checks in place to help prevent this in the future. We're sorry for any distress this may have caused," Green said.
Canva told Gizmodo it launched a formal audit and is reviewing its internal testing processes to prevent unexpected outputs. The company said the problem was isolated and did not affect designs broadly.
Canva has not publicly explained why the tool would change text without instruction. The design platform company has also not disclosed why the AI specifically targeted "Palestine" or chose "Ukraine" as the replacement.
The audit remains ongoing with no public timeline for completion as of Wednesday, April 29.
Damilare Odedina
