Of course not. If I see a defamatory article on the front page of a newspaper and I call over a bunch of friends standing nearby and say &quot;Hey guys, check out this article!&quot;, or even &quot;...check out this <i>great</i> article!&quot; (to account for the self-like), would that be republication or defamation? If all the defendant did was post a link, there&#x27;s no difference as far as I can see.