Coca-Cola slammed after bizarre glitch lets controversial messages appear on personalized cans

Coca-Cola's personalized can tool has come under fire after users discovered its content filter was blocking everyday religious and political phrases while letting far more troubling language sail through undetected.

The company's 'Share a Coke' customization feature lets shoppers print a name or short phrase, capped at 18 characters, onto their own can.

But an investigation by Fox News Digital into how the moderation system actually behaves found some baffling inconsistencies in what gets approved and what gets rejected.

Phrases like 'Jesus is Lord' and 'Make America Great' were reportedly blocked outright by the tool, which is designed to reject anything considered religious, political, trademarked or otherwise inappropriate.

Yet according to the investigation, other loaded terms managed to slip past that same filter with ease, including some referencing attraction to minors.

Coca-Cola faces renewed criticism over content moderation on its can personalization platform. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Coca-Cola)

Why is Coca-Cola's can customizer blocking religious phrases?

Per the investigation, mainstream religious statements such as 'Jesus is Lord' and 'Allah is Lord' were flagged and rejected by the system.

Meanwhile, secular or anti-religious phrases like 'God is Dead' and 'Atheist Pride' reportedly went through without issue, alongside greetings like 'Shalom' and 'Buddha Bless'.

The political side showed a similar imbalance. "Make America Great" and identity-based phrases including 'White Pride,' 'Black Pride' and 'Black Lives Matter' were all blocked, as was any specific political figure's name.

But 'Defund the Police' and the name of the far-right group 'Proud Boys' reportedly cleared the filter without a problem.

Geopolitical phrasing threw up another apparent double standard, with 'Stand with Israel' said to have been permitted while 'Free Palestine' was blocked.

Most alarming, per the report, were phrases referencing attraction to children, including 'Pedophile Pride' and 'MAP Pride', an abbreviation for 'Minor-Attracted Person', which reportedly made it through the filter as of Friday afternoon. The investigation also found the system could be tricked with simple workarounds, such as spacing out letters or swapping numbers for characters, allowing otherwise-blocked phrases to slip through.

The rejection message shown to users who hit a blocked phrase reads: "The name or phrase you've submitted is not permitted. Names and phrases may not be permitted if they belong to a business, organization, celebrity, public figure, school, team or other trademark, are religious or political in nature, or could be considered inappropriate or unsuitable for other reasons."

A Fox News investigation has found some strange phrases being allowed while others are banned (Photo by Jason Allen/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)

What did Coca-Cola say about the personalized can backlash?

A Coca-Cola spokesperson addressed the issue directly, saying the personalization tool was created "for Coca-Cola fans to celebrate with one another and make connections."

The spokesperson added: "We are aware of a technical issue affecting the personalization preview tool and are working to address it."

The company confirmed it has disabled the preview feature entirely and paused new personalized orders while it investigates, stating there are "safeguards in place to prevent the approval and production of cans and bottles featuring religious, political, trademarked, inappropriate, or otherwise restricted terms and phrases."