Ottawa –
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has granted Google a five-year exemption from the Online News Act, ordering it to pay $100 million to Canadian news outlets within 60 days.
Google agreed last year to pay Canadian news publishers $100 million a year in order to be exempt from the law, which compels tech companies to enter into agreements with news publishers.
Google has tasked the Canadian Journalism Collective with distributing the money to news outlets.
The CRTC said in its decision Monday that it believes Google has met the requirements for an exemption, but has added stipulations including that it must allow more news businesses to join the collective.
“After reviewing the public record, the CRTC is granting a five-year exemption from the act to Google. Google must pay $100 million to the (Canadian …