Let me begin by stating that I fall on the side of free speech. Regulating speech will never be safe.
Liberals will apply a wide range of personal perspectives to attempt to restrict offensive speech. Try to think of a joke that doesn’t poke fun at or offend some ethnic, social, sexual or other characteristic.
Conservatives will complain that social media sites are anti-conservative and prejudiced against their points of view.
And yet, hate speech, racial invective and rumor, conspiracy, innuendo and false accusations are troublesome.
I propose the establishment of an independent committee like the one used to rate movies and entertainment that will be funded by the vast profits made by social media sites and have the autonomous authority to place rating icons on any site that they, or their staffs identify as falling in certain categories.
The presence of these icons on a Facebook post, a tweet or a google page will not stop free speech, but it will alert the reader to what is coming in the same way as the icons do when looking at a movie, series or episode on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime.
