Google payments for news organizations to begin later than expected

Canadian journalism organizations are having to wait a bit longer for their share of the $100 million Google agreed to pay news outlets to be exempt from the Online News Act.

The organization administering the money now says funds will flow to outlets later than the January timeline it first provided.

The Canadian Journalism Collective said in an email to outlets late Thursday that work is underway to assess applicants and news businesses should expect to find out if they are eligible for cash between mid-February and mid-March.

If eligible, initial payments will follow two weeks after the collective receives a signed recipient agreement and banking information.

Laura Dunn, a co-ordinator with the collective, said the timeline for distribution of the funds was moved back because news businesses asked for more time to review the agreement they’d need to sign to receive the money.

“We’ve also heard loud and clear that they want us to balance speed with robust implementation, especially as it relates to eligibility verification,” she said in an email.

Outlets are receiving the money because of the Online News Act. The federal legislation is designed to level the playing field by extracting compensation from search engine and social media companies with a total annual global revenue of $1 billion or more and 20 million or more Canadian average monthly unique visitors or average monthly active users.

Google, along with Facebook and Instagram-owner Meta, are the only tech firms that currently meet these criteria.

Google secured a five-year exemption from the act by agreeing to pay $100 million a year to media organizations. Meta has avoided having to make any payments by blocking access to Canadian news on its platforms.

The first payment outlets will receive because of the act will only be partial “to ensure we don’t overpay news businesses before (the collective) has verified the number of employee hours,” Dunn said in the newsletter sent to outlets.

Then, in May through August, consulting and accounting firms retained by the collective will verify the hours claimed by eligible news businesses, so the outlets can receive the balance of funds they are owed.

“As news businesses are determined to be ineligible their hours will be removed from the pool of funds, increasing the payment per employee hour,” Dunn wrote.

The collective previously estimated eligible publishers will receive about $13,798 per full-time equivalent journalist employed based on a 2,000-hour year. Broadcasters will receive about $6,806 per eligible worker. That equates to $6.90 per claimed hour for publishers and $3.40 per hour for broadcasters.

Once ineligible organizations are weeded out, however, industry group News Media Canada has estimated the total publishers will likely receive will be between $18,000 and $20,000 per journalist.

To qualify for the money, the act says outlets have to produce news of “general interest” or on “current events” but not be solely focused on a lone industry or topic such as sports or arts.

Qualifying organizations must also operate in Canada, have two or more journalists in the country and be a member of a recognized journalistic association or follow a code of ethics ensuring fairness, independence and rigour are applied to reporting.

After eligible news organizations receive both portions of their payments, the collective will hold funds in reserve for any news businesses who dispute their eligibility or the number of verified employee hours.

“In the interest of transparency, we believe the CJC should make their determination of eligible news businesses public prior to distribution,” Paul Deegan, president of News Media Canada, said in an email.

“The updated timeline should give the CJC more than enough time to accomplish this.”

Once all disputes are resolved and businesses who won their disputes are paid out, any remaining funds will be distributed to eligible news businesses, the collective said.

Last month, the collective said Google had transferred the money due to be dispersed to the journalism collective, which said cash would start flowing after it circulated a draft agreement outlets accepting money would have to sign.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2025.

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press