Updating Envato’s position on the war in Ukraine

We had committed that we would keep our community updated on what Envato was doing in response to the invasion of Ukraine, and the severe impact this is having on our creative community in this part of the world.

We appreciate that many of you have been asking for more clarity on Envato’s position regarding our creative community in Russia and Eastern Europe. For a global, complex business such as ours, we have needed to take the time to understand what actions we can take - beyond the mandated international sanctions we are bound to - and we thank you for your ongoing patience on this front.

While the situation continues to change rapidly, we have decided to expand on the international sanctions program and put in place our own, new restrictions specific to Envato. This is not a decision we take lightly. However, we do not condone this invasion and we do not want to support payouts entering the Russian financial system, where they may be used to support ongoing acts of aggression by the Russian government as part of this invasion. Likewise, as the international sanctions program continues to evolve, our ability to pay creatives in Russia becomes increasingly risky, with a high chance of being blocked by payment providers.

Further information is provided below, and affected Authors will be contacted directly in the next 24 hours. We know that for some in our community, these measures will go too far. For others, they will not go far enough. We appreciate the hurt many are feeling as a result of this war, and we hope our decision can be seen by its intent: to reject war, violence or aggression of any kind.

The details of our changes to our Author community are as follows:

Payments to Russian financial institutions

As of 26 March 2022, we will no longer pay out Author, Provider or Contributor earnings to any financial institutions based in the Russian Federation. This is on top of the current international sanctions regime that requires us to withhold payment to a prescribed list of institutions.

New Author Applications from Russia

We are no longer accepting new Author applications from creatives living in the Russian Federation and have canceled any pending applications.

Existing Authors in Russia

We have no current plans to place individual sanctions on Authors in Russia unless we are required to by law. We will not be removing portfolios of work or preventing Authors from earning. This is not a move targeted at Russian creatives; only the banks and institutions based in the country. We understand this has significant implications for those currently using a Russia-based financial service and we will provide additional guidance in our follow up with affected Authors.

You can see our previous actions here and here.

This conflict has highlighted the need to stay strong and support each other as a global creative community. These are painful decisions we’ve had to make, as we greatly value the collective integrity and passion each of you bring to Envato. However, we cannot sit idly by on this issue, and we hope that as a community you will continue to place your trust in the team here at Envato to monitor the situation and respond in the best interests of our global community.

Our thoughts remain with the innocent people affected by this conflict. We hope that peace will prevail soon and that we can reunite our global creative community once more.

NOTE: There is an important update further down this thread. Please see this post for clarifications on the state of payment options before March 26, and the changes coming afterwards.

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8 posts were merged into an existing topic: Posts Removed Update to Ukraine (Mar 18)

It is a very crazy thing to deprive ordinary designers who were far from politics and always advocated for peace, to deprive all of us of our livelihood.

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I don’t want to delete my projects, but I also don’t want an Envato partner to make a profit without me.

Can you freeze my account? So that projects are not available for purchase and downloads?

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I do wanna freeze my account too. In case i’ll be able to continue working here regardless of moving away from Russia or any political changes but till this time i don’t wanna my projects beign sold anymore. Or is it only option for me to delete them all?

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Did you forget Envato how much profit did the Russian people make to you?
How many wars the United States has brought to other countries, I also propose to impose sanctions on them

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What you are doing is further inciting the hatred and suffering of ordinary people. Instead of uniting, you destroy and divide. I am disappointed in Envato. Your reputation and trust in your company will be irreparably damaged.

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Thanks Envato.

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You are depriving ordinary people of money to live on. Why does Envato touch politics? Everything sounds dirty. You are hurting civilians. This is a hypocritical act on Envato’s part. Trust is broken.

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Great Envato, you show your true face. Cancel based on nationality

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Dear Envato
we CAN connect with Payoneer ONLY LOCATED IN RUSSIA banks
so how can we get our royalty?

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Now I do not want to blame anyone and no one to justify. I understand that Envato made this decision based on the situation in the world and public pressure. But I’ll just give you a couple of facts. Europe buys gas and oil from Russia for billions of dollars EVERY DAY, and this money goes to the budget, including these funds are used for armaments. Musicians from Russia are registered in the tax system under the patent taxation system, which means that regardless of the availability and amount of income, they pay about $ 100 to the budget ONCE A YEAR. They won’t even buy a gun with this money. That’s all.

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H - Hypocrisy

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Payments to Russian banks stop temporarily or permanently?

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Are you sure about that?
If you do such a big move to block all Russians, maybe you could prove your position or it’s just your assumption?
What’s percentage of my tax becomes an army needs in Russia?
What’s percentage of the blame in this war on every Russian author on Envato?

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I’m neither russian nor ukranian and I definitely not supporting any war. Not this one as well as american engagement in Syria, Iraq and what not…But this is plain stupid and it will divide people even more. They will hate each other to the bones. It’s totally fine and noble you did for ukranian authors but this…Such a disappointment :nauseated_face::face_vomiting:

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Envato should stay out of politics, you are creating an idea among writers about taking sides in the war. I’m not russian or ukrainian and I’m shocked, this can’t be a war declaration by envato! You are supporting a war, it is attacking countless countries in America and we have never talked about it!

While Envato may be pushing Russian authors out of the community, leaving them helpless and instilling feelings of hatred, it doesn’t look like a way to prevent war at all!

If Envato is a community, it should vote on this issue that concerns us all, I do not approve of you taking a battle position!

No to a war against Russian Authors!

With all my heart: I greet Ukrainian and all other occupied people. Kurds, Turks, Arabs, Germans, Frenchs and now Russian Authors…

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This is my daughter. I am her mother. We hate militarism in any form. She fights with the kids at the music school who love military holidays. She grows up to be a pacifist. Now I will have nothing to feed my daughter and her four animals. Elfentanz -Jenkinson Василина Тихонравова. Скрипка - Горонок Caprice 1/2 - YouTube

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I think such an act is not able to help the residents of Ukraine. Envato will lose a large share of authors and profits. The authors on the market are not military, not politicians. Blocking won’t help stop the war! I am sure that every Russian author was shocked by the news about the beginning of the war.

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