diff --git a/build/cmake/init.cmake b/build/cmake/init.cmake
index 4b56f6bfa3..6ca0f32985 100644
--- a/build/cmake/init.cmake
+++ b/build/cmake/init.cmake
@@ -308,6 +308,18 @@ if(wxUSE_LIBLZMA)
     endif()
 endif()
 
+if(wxUSE_WEBREQUEST_CURL)
+    find_package(CURL)
+    if(NOT CURL_FOUND)
+        message(WARNING "CURL not found, wxWebSessionBackendCURL won't be available")
+        wx_option_force_value(wxUSE_WEBREQUEST_CURL OFF)
+    endif()
+endif()
+if (wxUSE_WEBREQUEST AND NOT (wxUSE_WEBREQUEST_WINHTTP OR wxUSE_WEBREQUEST_URLSESSION OR wxUSE_WEBREQUEST_CURL))
+    message(WARNING "wxUSE_WEBREQUEST requires at least one backend, it won't be available")
+    wx_option_force_value(wxUSE_WEBREQUEST OFF)
+endif()
+
 if(UNIX)
     if(wxUSE_SECRETSTORE AND NOT APPLE)
         # The required APIs are always available under MSW and OS X but we must
diff --git a/build/cmake/lib/net/CMakeLists.txt b/build/cmake/lib/net/CMakeLists.txt
index 8f670d45b2..1d4dd83c3e 100644
--- a/build/cmake/lib/net/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/build/cmake/lib/net/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -32,8 +32,6 @@ if(WIN32)
 endif()
 
 if (wxUSE_WEBREQUEST_CURL)
-    find_package(CURL REQUIRED)
-
     target_include_directories(wxnet PRIVATE ${CURL_INCLUDE_DIRS})
     wx_lib_link_libraries(wxnet PRIVATE ${CURL_LIBRARIES})
 endif()
diff --git a/build/cmake/samples/CMakeLists.txt b/build/cmake/samples/CMakeLists.txt
index 7e72043e53..e4d4f788f9 100644
--- a/build/cmake/samples/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/build/cmake/samples/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ wx_add_sample(webview LIBRARIES wxwebview DATA ../help/doc.zip:doc.zip
 if(TARGET webviewsample AND wxUSE_STC)
     wx_exe_link_libraries(webviewsample wxstc)
 endif()
-wx_add_sample(webrequest LIBRARIES net DEPENDS wxUSE_WEBREQUEST)
+wx_add_sample(webrequest LIBRARIES wxnet DEPENDS wxUSE_WEBREQUEST)
 # widgets Sample
 set(SAMPLE_WIDGETS_SRC
     activityindicator.cpp