Rules
Online News Act Social Media Canada: A Guide for Small Publishers
Online News Act Social Media Canada guidance for small publishers: thresholds, Meta’s Canadian news block, Google’s collective payment, and publisher options.
What to take away
- The Online News Act applies to platforms that clear two tests: 20 million or more average monthly unique visitors in Canada, and CAD 10 million or more in gross annual revenue.
- Below those numbers a platform carries no bargaining duty.
- Meta stopped carrying news links in Canada in 2023 and has not restored them. Google pays a fixed annual sum into a collective.
- The CRTC administers the Act and can penalise non-compliant operators.
- The Act is in force in 2026 and the thresholds are unchanged. Google is the only platform paying into a collective; Meta pays nothing.
- The workaround stops paying when the hours spent chasing a share exceed the share itself.
The limit written into the statute
A newsroom of one has no budget and no legal retainer. For small publishers searching “online news act social media canada,” the practical question is which services have a bargaining duty and what Meta’s news block changes.
A digital news intermediary is caught when it has 20 million or more average monthly unique visitors in Canada and gross annual revenues of CAD 10 million or more. Both tests must be met. The full text of the Online News Act is short and worth reading in full.
A platform below the line is unregulated. One above it must bargain with eligible news businesses, alone or through a collective. The Act came into force in December 2023, and the Canadian Heritage overview sets out the purpose behind it.
Two services clear both tests in practice, and the public record names no third.
| Platform | Clears both tests | Status as of 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | Pays a reported CAD 100 million a year, indexed to inflation, to the Canadian Journalism Collective, under an exemption granted by the CRTC in 2024 | |
| Meta | Yes | Carries no news links in Canada, so no payment is due |
| Every other service | Not publicly designated | No agreement and no published bargaining duty |
The thresholds have not been amended since the Act came into force, and any change would have to pass through Parliament.
What the constraint removes
A newsroom of one cannot use the collective route. The eligible news business definition leans on tax law and generally expects at least two full-time equivalent journalists, plus original news production. A solo publisher with a newsletter and a laptop does not qualify.
Two other things go. No government fund pays small outlets directly, because the Act creates a duty to bargain rather than a subsidy. Money reaches publishers through a bargaining agent that decides the split.
Bargaining with Meta is effectively ruled out. Meta pulled news links from Facebook and Instagram in Canada in 2023 and has not restored them, so no referral traffic is left to price. For how services group by design rather than by headline user counts, see community platforms compared.
What still works under the thresholds
- Test yourself against both thresholds in writing. Record your average monthly unique visitors in Canada and your gross annual revenue. A shortfall on either figure keeps the Act away from you.
- Measure the news business test against payroll. Count full-time equivalents, not names on a masthead.
- Approach a collective already holding an exemption agreement and ask what membership demands.
- Keep news links live, and keep dated records of what you published.
| Question for your situation | Where the answer sits |
|---|---|
| Does the Act reach my platform? | The two thresholds in the statute |
| Can I claim a share of the money? | The eligible news business test |
| Who runs the process? | The CRTC |
| What happens if I do nothing? | No duty, and no share |
Join a collective, or take no share
Joining a collective and accepting a modest percentage is a fair trade for a small publisher. The alternative is no share at all. The federal journalism labour tax credit covers 25 per cent of eligible salary per journalist, up to a cap, and does not depend on the Act.
Keeping news free to read is another compromise that holds. Paywalls can work, but not against referral traffic that has already moved. The picture changes quickly, and major social networks by year traces four shifts in who sees what.
The Act pays collectives, not individuals.
Spending that buys no share
Hiring a lawyer to design a bargaining strategy when your platform sits below both thresholds is wasted money. The duty never arises.
Building a paywall to replace lost Meta referrals is a second loss. Those referrals ended in 2023. Pulling pages down will not bring them back; delete a social media account sets out how long removal takes.
Treating the Google payment as guaranteed recurring revenue is a third. It is an agreement between a company and a collective, renewed on terms no small publisher controls.
- Confirm your monthly Canadian visitor count in writing
- Confirm gross annual revenue against the second threshold
- Ask a collective what membership costs in fees and hours
When to stop and resource it properly
Set the line before you begin. If your realistic annual share of any distribution is under about CAD 5,000 and claiming it costs more than roughly 30 hours a year plus legal review, the workaround has stopped paying. Both numbers are my rule of thumb, not figures written into the Act; use your own hourly rate.
Below that line, chase readers instead of settlements. Above it, when you carry two or more journalists and revenue that is a real fraction of the pool, hire help or join a collective with a record.
