Canada to Enforce Fee on Google for Online News Law Costs

The Canadian regulator's decision follows public consultations and aims to recover enforcement expenses from the Online News Act.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) will impose a fee on Google starting April 1 to cover the costs of enforcing the Online News Act.
Google is the only company subject to the regulation, as Meta chose to block Canadian news on its platforms to avoid compliance.
The fee is part of a broader global trend requiring tech companies to compensate news organizations for content shared on their platforms.
Google had already agreed to pay C$100 million annually to Canadian news publishers to maintain news content in search results.
The decision has added to ongoing tensions between Canada and the United States over trade, technology policies, and digital services taxation.