(Graphic by Naomi Wildeboer/Hill Times Publishing)
News outlets received $60M under Online News Act — before any applications were verified
Regulatory | |October 28, 2026
Officials are working to claw back funding given to organizations under the Online News Act after the independent decision-making body opted to issue payments before verifying applications.
In a CRTC report published last week, an auditor found several news publishers or broadcasters did not qualify for the level of funding received during the first round of payments under the Online News Act.
Also known as Bill C-18, the law was introduced by Justin Trudeau’s government in 2022 to make digital giants, like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook, compensate news publishers for content appearing on their platforms.
Shortly after it became law, Meta opted to remove all news from Facebook and Instagram, thereby foregoing its obligation to make payments. Meanwhile, Google reached an agreement to annually provide $100 million in funding for the domestic news sector, which was paid out for the first time in 2025.
Hill Times Publishing, parent company of The Wire Report, received $333,804.68 in 2025 and $409,474.03 in 2026 under the Online News Act.
The Canadian Journalism Collective (CJC), founded by a coalition of news organizations, was tasked with determining how the funds would be distributed among stakeholders, which would each receive a portion based on the number of full-time employees that contribute to the production of original news content. The non-profit entity received hundreds of applications from across the country, representing newspapers, radio stations, digital media, magazines, and other outlets.
In an effort to “prioritize timely disbursement,” the CJC decided to pay out 60 per cent of the yearly pot in March 2025 — approximately $60 million — before verifying each applicant’s claims.
As a result, a program evaluation found various payments exceeded what news organizations were eligible to receive.
“A news business could only claim a journalist’s hours if the journalist was an actual employee of the news business and not a freelancer operating as an independent contractor,” read the report.
“The external assessment revealed that some news businesses had received funding but did not meet these requirements.”
The report concluded funds were paid to news outlets that misrepresented the number of full–time employees at its organization or failed to provide supporting documentation, prompting recovery efforts to correct the various “overpayments.”
“Recovery actions have been undertaken, recoveries have been received, and any amounts deemed unrecoverable are being written off,” read the audit.
“To protect the confidentiality of the news businesses and sensitivity of financial information, recovery and write-off amounts are not disclosed in this report.”
In a statement to The Wire Report, Gabriel van Loon, a CJC board member, said the collective “verified each applicant was an eligible news business” prior to the first round of payments, but only performed “a more detailed verification” for subsequent money transfers.
“This was a deliberate choice by the founding board,” said van Loon. “The first stage was intentionally focused on eligibility, because many newsrooms depended on timely access to the first distribution of Online News Act funds.”
“To balance speed with accountability, the CJC-CCJ built a buffer into the program from the outset. That process worked as intended: where verification found that a business had overstated its hours or FTEs, or could not document its claim, the overpayment was deducted from its [Year 2] funding or recovered directly.”
Eligibility for Online News Act payments and other government-mandated journalism supports is decided by the Independent Advisory Board on Eligibility for Journalism Tax Measures, composed of academics, media executives, and former reporters.
The CRTC specified all recovered funds would be redistributed to eligible Canadian publishers or broadcasters.
Van Loon said less than 0.1 per cent of payments issued in the first year, which would equate to less than $100,000, have been unrecoverable.
“Our recovery efforts are ongoing and have been largely successful, so some of that amount may still be recovered,” he said.
The CJC transferred the remaining amount of Google’s initial contribution — approximately $40 million — later in 2025 after the organization brought in an external accounting firm to perform a “verification of the documentation” to support each applicant’s claims.
“The second stage was built in as a safeguard, so that any overstatement of hours could be identified and corrected before the final payment,” added van Loon.
CRTC spokesperson Mirabella Salem emphasized, while the regulator is charged with overseeing a bargaining framework between publishers and tech companies, the CJC is solely “responsible for determining the equitable disbursement of the funds received from Google to news organizations.”
In 2026, the CJC issued the majority of funds in a single payout this past spring. The report does not mention whether applications were verified before payments were made, though van Loon confirmed the organization completed verification of every application for issuing decisions.
“This process of detailed verification prior to payment will continue,” he said.
Among the largest recipients in 2026 were Postmedia Network Inc. ($10.3 million), BCE Inc.’s Bell Media ($8.6 million), Corus Entertainment Inc. ($7 million), and The Globe and Mail ($4.1 million).
The recently-published analysis is the CRTC’s first annual report on the impact of the Online News Act.
Fewer news outlets claim funding in 2026
Despite the amount of available funding growing to $102.5 million in 2026, due to the Google agreement being indexed to inflation, the number of qualifying outlets dropped slightly compared to the first year of payments under the Online News Act.
Last year, 445 news organizations, composed of 269 publishers and 175 broadcasters, received payments under the law, while the total number of recipients fell to 425 (255 publishers and 169 broadcasters) in 2026.
During both years, publishers absorbed the majority of funding as the legislation caps the broadcasting sector’s payee amount to 30 per cent of the pot. The law also stipulates that the CBC, as Canada’s public broadcaster, is only eligible to receive a maximum of seven per cent of the funding.
The CRTC report also surveyed funding recipients, many of whom were “grateful” that the Google agreement “allowed their news businesses to continue operations and ‘keep the lights on.’”
But some outlets said the funding’s impact was marginal, if not outright hurtful, considering the Online News Act led to Meta removing news content from Facebook and Instagram, both of which boast millions of Canadian users.
“In addition to respondents providing constructive feedback on the funding process, some noted that the funds were insufficient and identified other issues,” read the report.
“Some noted that the reduction in revenues was due to less visibility on social media, adding that the funding amount received was negligible and that news businesses made more money before the removal of news on some social media platforms.”
Over the summer, Prime Minister Mark Carney (Nepean, Ont.) reportedly considered scrapping the Online News Act as part of comprehensive bilateral trade negotiations with the White House, which has long viewed the legislation as an “irritant.” Trade discussions dramatically collapsed in August, though U.S. President Donald Trump has recently indicated renewed interest in a deal with Canada.
However, as reported by The Wire Report, News Media Canada CEO Paul Deegan found “zero evidence” the Liberals had shifted its policy approach after several meetings with high-ranking government officials.
