What is the test for publication of defamatory material?

The plaintiff must establish that the defendant has, by any act, conveyed the defamatory meaning concerning the plaintiff to a third party, who received it. Traditionally, any act which transferred defamatory information to a third person was considered publication. However, in the modern age, publication has been modified to exclude entirely passive acts, such as some forms of referencing or hyperlinking of defamatory material. Where the acts “merely transmit information in a content-neutral way, without expression, adoption or endorsement, they are generally not considered publication”: Weaver at para. 86; Crookes v. Newton, 2011 SCC 47 at paras. 16, 21, 30, and 48.