Rebel News – Bias and Credibility

History

Founded in February 2015 by Ezra Levant after the closure of Sun News Network, Rebel News is a Canadian conservative/right-leaning news, opinion, video, and activism-oriented media website. Brian Lilley was an early co-founder and contributor but later left the outlet, citing concerns about editorial judgment. Rebel News describes its worldview as generally conservative and says it seeks to “tell the other side of the story.” Ezra Levant remains the founder and owner, while Sheila Gunn Reid is listed as Editor-in-Chief, Alberta Bureau Chief, and a board director.

View our media country profile on Canada.

Funded by / Ownership

Rebel News is operated by Rebel News Network Ltd., a federally incorporated Canadian company. Canadian corporate records list the company’s registered office in Calgary, Alberta, and list directors including Ezra Levant, Andrea Humphrey, Sheila Gunn, and Efrain Oswaldo Flores Monsanto. Corporate records also list Irina Levant as the individual with significant control, indirectly holding more than 75% of shares. Rebel News states that it does not take government funding and is funded through viewer support, donations, premium subscriptions, books/merchandise, events, and advertising.

Analysis / Bias

Rebel News publishes news analysis, opinion, videos, petitions, and campaigns from a strongly right-leaning perspective. Story selection and editorial framing favor conservative and populist positions while frequently criticizing Liberal governments, mainstream media, climate/environmental regulations, immigration policy, transgender-rights policies, and multicultural or Islam-related issues.

Current examples include I went to that Regina mosque that blasts the Muslim call to prayer, which frames a local call-to-prayer issue as “Islamic domination”; Remigration Now!, a petition calling for reversing “mass migration”; Stop the New World Order!, which frames Canadian foreign policy around a “New World Order”; Saskatchewan mother demands protection for girls’ privacy in school washrooms, which links a school washroom dispute to a “Stop Classroom Grooming” petition; and Where are the bodies? Sechelt band silent nearly a year after claiming 81 “unmarked graves”, which uses loaded framing regarding residential-school unmarked-grave claims.

Rebel News often uses emotionally loaded headlines and commentary that denigrate the political left, legacy media, and government institutions. The website does hyperlink to outside sources at times; however, it also frequently relies on its own videos, petitions, commentary, and fundraising/campaign pages as part of coverage.

In 2024, the Federal Court upheld a Canada Revenue Agency decision denying Rebel’s qualified journalism tax-credit status after the CRA found that only 10 of 423 reviewed Rebel items met the criteria for original news, while many others were opinion, curated or rewritten material, or lacked multiple perspectives. This supports continued concerns regarding original reporting and sourcing practices.

External critics have also connected Rebel News to far-right and anti-Muslim narratives. For example, Maclean’s described Rebel’s earlier trajectory as a shift toward conspiracy and white-identity politics, while The National reported on criticism that Rebel promoted anti-Muslim and anti-migrant narratives. Rebel News denies being racist or alt-right. Overall, Rebel News combines some factual reporting and firsthand video coverage with strongly opinionated framing, poor sourcing/original-reporting concerns, conspiracy-oriented campaigns, and several failed fact checks.

Failed Fact Checks

• Bill Gates is calling for the mandatory vaccination of all people, and states that the billionaire Microsoft co-founder wants pregnant people and children to be forced to take it. – False
• mRNA Covid-19 vaccines increase the chances of infection with the Omicron variant – Misleading
• Pfizer, the creator of the first FDA-approved vaccine for COVID-19, plans on mandating a pill to be used with the booster. – False
• Members of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team decided to turn their backs to a World War II veteran as he performed the National Anthem before the start of a soccer match. – False
• 50,000 Chinese Soldiers Were Bombed and Killed in Maine Which Was Listed as an Earthquake – False
• I thought this was supposed to be a conspiracy theory. But here it is, straight from Trudeau’s mouth. The pandemic is the excuse for a “Great Reset” of the world, led by the UN. – False
• Natural immunity persists for decades; Pregnant women aren’t at risk from COVID-19; DNA plasmids are in COVID-19 vaccines; no evidence that COVID-19 boosters are safe. – Misleading

Overall, we rate Rebel News Right Biased and Questionable based on strongly conservative/populist story selection, loaded anti-left and anti-mainstream-media framing, conspiracy-oriented campaigns, poor sourcing/original-reporting concerns, pseudoscience, and multiple failed fact checks. We rate factual reporting Mixed due to a combination of some fact-based reporting and firsthand video coverage alongside misleading claims, one-sided sourcing, and failed fact checks. (10/9/2016) Updated (D. Van Zandt 07/06/2026)

Source: https://www.rebelnews.com/