Local TV stations ask regulator to force Meta to pay for posting some news content

OTTAWA – Some local and independent TV stations are asking the federal broadcast regulator to start a process to force Meta to pay for allowing some news content on Facebook and Instagram.

They say that despite Meta’s move in 2023 to pull news from its platforms in response to the Online News Act, some content remains available.

The Online News Act requires Meta and Google to compensate media outlets for displaying their content. While Meta pulled news from its platforms in response and has not been required to pay news outlets, Google has been making payments under the act.

In a submission to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the stations cite examples of online posts that included news content, such as text and screenshots of stories and video clips.

The stations also say that in some cases they’ve seen their pages banned from Facebook or Instagram, while outlets they compete with have not.

The examples show the amount of news Meta makes available “is not merely incidental,” the group argues in its CRTC submission.

“Hundreds, if not thousands, of Facebook and Instagram users have been making available [the stations’] news on a fairly regular basis,” it said.

The stations argue that in any case, the amount of news that is available doesn’t matter since there is no “volume” test under the Online News Act.

“In anticipation of arguments from Meta that they are not in the business of news, and that any infractions or occurrences of news being made available are minor or incidental, we submit that this is irrelevant,” the group said.

The group is asking the CRTC to force the tech giant to enter into the bargaining process under the act.

The 15 stations serve more than 3.5 million Canadians and employ more than 100 full-time journalists, the group said in its filing.

It accused Meta of directly contributing to the demise of Canada’s news ecosystem, “both by leaching advertising dollars and by, intentionally, compromising the ability of legitimate trustworthy news voices to be found on its platforms while favouring non-traditional, often extreme, news voices.”

That “double-barrelled hit” shouldn’t be allowed to stand any longer, the groups told the CRTC.

A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment on the filing.

An initial response from the company was included in the documents filed by the TV stations with the CRTC. In it, a lawyer for Meta said it is not an operator as defined in the legislation.

“Accordingly, Meta is not required to participate in the bargaining process and intends to take no further steps in relation to the demands raised in [the TV stations’] correspondence,” the letter said.

The Liberal government has said it continues to be open to a deal to bring news back to Meta’s platforms.

In 2024, the CRTC asked Meta what measures it’s taking to comply with the Online News Act, and if news is being made available on its platforms. After a back-and-forth over confidentiality, the CRTC ordered Meta to make its response public. 

Meta said it blocks content from domains, pages, or accounts it has identified as news outlets, but the letter did not address workarounds such as users sharing screenshots of news articles and copying the text of articles in their posts.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2026.