What did Canada's Online News Act change for news advertising?
Part of US and Canada targeting
The short answer
Canada's Online News Act received Royal Assent on June 22, 2023 and took effect December 19, 2023. It regulates platforms that make news available to people in Canada so they compensate news businesses. Meta began ending news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada on August 1, 2023, so buyers reach Canadian news readers on publishers' own sites and apps.
Key takeaways
- The Act's duties fall on digital news intermediaries, such as search engines and social media services, where a significant bargaining power imbalance exists with news businesses.
- Meta said on August 1, 2023 that it had begun ending news availability on Facebook and Instagram for people in Canada, describing it as a business decision to comply with the Act.
- Google's contribution is $100 million a year, indexed to inflation, and the Canadian Journalism Collective began disbursing funding in March 2025.
- A year after the block, Canadian news outlets had lost 85 percent of their engagement on Facebook and Instagram, per the Media Ecosystem Observatory.
- For a buyer, social referral figures from before August 2023 describe a distribution channel that no longer works the same way in Canada.
What is Canada's Online News Act?
The Online News Act (opens in a new tab), passed as Bill C-18, "received Royal Assent on June 22, 2023" and took effect on December 19, 2023, according to Canadian Heritage (opens in a new tab). Its stated purpose is "to regulate digital news intermediaries with a view to enhancing fairness in the Canadian digital news marketplace." Canadian Heritage describes a bargaining framework: platforms and news businesses can strike voluntary deals, then move to mediated bargaining and final offer arbitration if talks fail, with the CRTC overseeing the process.
Definition
- Digital news intermediary
- In the Act, "an online communications platform, including a search engine or social media service," within federal jurisdiction, that makes news content produced by news outlets available to persons in Canada. Private messaging services are excluded.
| Point | What the source says | Who it concerns |
|---|---|---|
| Who is regulated | Digital news intermediaries where there is "a significant bargaining power imbalance between its operator and news businesses" (s. 6) | Large search and social platforms |
| Factors for that test | Size of the intermediary or operator, strategic market advantage, and a prominent market position (s. 6) | Platform operators |
| What counts as news content | Content in any format that reports on, investigates or explains current issues or events of public interest | News outlets |
| How compensation happens | Voluntary agreements first, then mandatory bargaining and final offer arbitration, overseen by the CRTC | Platforms and news businesses |
| Key dates | Royal Assent June 22, 2023; in force December 19, 2023; last amended December 19, 2023 | Everyone citing the law |
Advertisers do not appear in that structure. The Act's obligations sit with the operators of qualifying platforms, and the money flows from those platforms to news businesses. What changed for media buyers came from how one platform chose to respond.
Why did news disappear from Facebook and Instagram in Canada?
Meta chose to remove it. Its newsroom post, Changes to News Availability on Our Platforms in Canada (opens in a new tab), was first published June 1, 2023 to announce tests. The August 1, 2023 update says: "In order to comply with the Online News Act, we have begun the process of ending news availability in Canada." It adds that "People in Canada will no longer be able to view or share news content on Facebook and Instagram, including news articles and audio-visual content posted by news outlets."
The block runs both ways across the border. Meta says "News publishers and broadcasters outside of Canada will continue to be able to post news links and content, however, that content will not be viewable by people in Canada," and that nothing changes for people outside Canada. The post calls the move "A Business Decision to Comply with the Online News Act." The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026 (opens in a new tab), published June 16, 2026, says Canada "resumed talks with Meta about returning news links to Facebook and Instagram." No restored access had been announced in that report.
How did the change affect Canadian news publishers?
The fullest public measure is the Media Ecosystem Observatory's one year study, Old News, New Reality: A Year of Meta's News Ban in Canada (opens in a new tab), by Sara Parker, Chris Ross, Zeynep Pehlivan and Aengus Bridgman, published August 1, 2024. It found that "Canadian news outlets have lost 85% of their engagement on Facebook and Instagram" and reported "an overall decrease of 43% in engagement" once other platforms were counted.
Two other findings matter for planning. The study notes that news still circulates through "work-around strategies like screengrabs," and the Reuters Institute report says independent TV stations showed "clips of their content were still being shared on Facebook and Instagram." And public awareness was low: "Only 22% of Canadians know that news is banned on Facebook and Instagram."
What does the Online News Act mean for advertisers buying Canadian news?
The Act's application section speaks to platform operators, not to advertisers. The practical change is where Canadian news audiences now meet publishers. Meta's own August 2023 update tells users they "can continue to access news online by going directly to news publishers' websites, downloading mobile news apps, and subscribing to their preferred publishers." For a buyer, that points news budgets at the publishers' own sites and apps, sold through their own ad stacks, rather than at boosted news posts in Canadian feeds.
It also dates older evidence. A publisher media kit, case study or audience estimate built before August 2023 may include social referral volumes that no longer exist for readers in Canada. US news sites are affected differently: their posts still reach US feeds but are hidden from people in Canada, so Canadian readers of a US outlet have to reach it some other way, such as search, direct visits or apps.
Checking a Canadian news publisher after the block
- The publisher's audience figures are dated after August 2023, with traffic by source.
- The site's country popularity is checked in current data, not taken from an old media kit.
- The site sells ads on its own pages, and its ads.txt file names the sellers.
- The plan does not count social amplification of news posts as reach in Canada.
- Any claim that a site receives Online News Act money is checked against the collective's published list.
- The brief states whether news adjacency is wanted, so news sites are not dropped by default.
- The plan notes the June 2026 talks on news links as unresolved, not as a restored channel.
Which publishers receive payments under the Online News Act?
Canadian Heritage gives Google's contribution as "$100 million in financial support annually, indexed to inflation." Payments reach news businesses through the Canadian Journalism Collective (opens in a new tab), which says that "In March 2025, the CJC-CCJ began disbursing $500M in funding to Canadian and Indigenous news businesses, as mandated under the Online News Act." Its recipient page, updated August 19, 2026, lists each recipient by operating name, legal name, type and amount received, with a downloadable file.
| Recipient type in the file | Rows | What it tells a buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher (including Éditeur) | 255 | Print and digital news businesses that received a payment |
| Broadcaster (including Radiodiffuseur) | 169 | Radio and TV news businesses that received a payment |
| All recipients | 424 | A list of payees, not a list of ad inventory or audience sizes |
The file's amount column is labeled "Amount received SY2," so it reflects one payment period, not a lifetime total. A name on it says a business met the collective's eligibility and received money. It says nothing about whether the outlet sells programmatic advertising, how many readers it has in a market, or how its content fits a brief.
What does a news plan look like after the block?
Fictional example
A Waterloo Region home care agency plans news adjacency
An unnamed home care agency serving Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph, Ontario wants display ads beside local news and health coverage read by adult children of aging parents. Its previous agency plan leaned on a 2022 media kit from a regional news group that counted Facebook referrals in its audience.
The new planner asks the news group for traffic by source dated 2026, checks each site's country popularity band in current data, and confirms in ads.txt which exchanges sell the sites. Two community papers on the collective's recipient list are added because they publish local health reporting and sell display ads; a third is set aside because it runs no advertising. The plan says plainly that news posts are not visible in Canadian Facebook and Instagram feeds.
How does PlacementGraph treat Canadian news publishers on a plan?
Planning news into a Canadian brief needs evidence about each site, not about the platform it used to rely on.
Frequently asked questions
Can people in Canada see US news links on Facebook?
Meta's August 1, 2023 update says news publishers and broadcasters outside Canada can still post news links and content, but "that content will not be viewable by people in Canada." For a US outlet with Canadian readers, Facebook and Instagram no longer carry its posts to them.
Does the Online News Act cover Google Search?
Canadian Heritage said Google Search was expected to meet the regulatory thresholds and be subject to the Act. Google's commitment is the $100 million a year, indexed to inflation, that the Canadian Journalism Collective distributes.
Does the Act put a levy on advertisers or ad spend?
The Act's purpose and application sections address digital news intermediaries and news businesses, and Canadian Heritage describes compensation flowing from qualifying platforms to news businesses through a bargaining framework. Neither source describes any charge on advertisers, agencies or ad buys, so a Canadian media budget carries no Online News Act line.
Is news completely gone from Facebook and Instagram in Canada?
Not entirely. The Media Ecosystem Observatory found news still spread through workarounds such as screengrabs, and the Reuters Institute's 2026 Canada report says independent TV stations showed their clips still being shared on both platforms. Posts from news outlets themselves remain hidden from people in Canada.
Sources
- Online News Act (S.C. 2023, c. 23) (opens in a new tab)Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada
- Online news (opens in a new tab)Canadian Heritage, Government of Canada
- Changes to News Availability on Our Platforms in Canada (opens in a new tab)Meta Newsroom, June 1, 2023, updated August 1, 2023
- Old News, New Reality: A Year of Meta's News Ban in Canada (opens in a new tab)Media Ecosystem Observatory, August 1, 2024
- Digital News Report 2026: Canada (opens in a new tab)Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, June 16, 2026
- Funding Recipients of Canadian and Indigenous News (opens in a new tab)Canadian Journalism Collective, updated August 19, 2026
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.