Is a reference to defamatory material published as a publication?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Holden v Hanlon, 2019 BCSC 622 (CanLII):
Publication is not complete until someone other than the person referred to receives and understands the defamatory information. Thus, "to shout aloud defamatory words on a desert moor where no one hears them, is not a publication" (Gambrill v. Schooley, 93 Md. 48 (U.S. Md. C.A. 1901), at p. 60). In the context of the Internet, a simple reference, absent evidence that someone actually viewed and understood the defamatory information to which it directs third parties, is not publication of that content.
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