You can actually tweet/write agreement with acts of violence and advocate for it in a general sense in the US. The legal standard is whether that speech is a threat to imminent violence (encouraging violence at a specific place and time): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_v._Ohio
Furthermore, defamation/libel is not covered under criminal law, it’s considered a tort so it would be a civil suit.
So no, not at all like the UK.
EDIT: But yeah sure if you want to try to defend your point, start linking cases to support the claim.
What on earth does defamation being a civil offense have to do with anything? It's a civil offense in the UK too, criminal defamation hasn't been a thing since 2010 and was barely a thing before then. If you want to confidently post how one thing is not at all like the other thing it might be a good idea to know the most basic facts about the other thing.