I was cruising around Facebook today and noticed something really unusual on EVERY SINGLE post that I was seeing. I had never noticed it before and I even tried to google it to see if this was a new feature. When I refreshed Facebook, it had disappeared from all of the posts. Have you ever seen this little tag at the bottom before?

There it was. At the end of my friends' posts, the groups I follow, everywhere. I couldn't get away from it and I was baffled by it being everywhere. What was it there for? How long has it been there? What happens if I click yes?

I had to check it out, so I clicked no on a friend's post and the tag just disappeared like it was never there. I didn't want to get someone blocked or kicked off for pushing the yes button.

So I decided to do a little digging to see what Facebook defines hate speech as, and I found this little blurb:

Content that attacks people based on their actual or perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or disease is not allowed. We do, however, allow clear attempts at humor or satire that might otherwise be considered a possible threat or attack. This includes content that many people may find to be in bad taste (example: jokes, stand-up comedy, popular song lyrics, etc.).

So it's okay if it's an obvious joke, but if you say something that someone perceives as hate speech, they can flag you and Facebook will take the necessary steps...whatever those might be. So if I post something about how crazy Panamanian drivers are and my Panamanian friend thinks that's hate speech, she can flag me and Facebook might kick me off.

Don't get me wrong, I like Facebook okay, but I'm not a diehard fan. It is starting to get on my nerves because every time I log on, it's showing me the exact same posts that it showed me last time. "Yep, I've already liked that one and I'm done reading all the comments that my friends have commented on that same post."

It's getting frustrating and I'm contemplating giving it up. The only thing holding me back is the fact that I'm in Panama and that is quite possibly the only way I keep in touch with some people, including members of my family. Plus it is how I get all the news for the groups I'm in, like the ones that tell me when the next gringo meet up is!

Since that little line showed up at the bottom of the posts that one time, it hasn't popped back up again. Where did it go? Will it come back up again? What happens if I do want to flag something as hate speech? Will this become a regular feature of Facebook? Is what I consider hate speech and what you consider hate speech the same thing? Does hate speech overrule free speech?

I just found this article which said it was only live for less than an hour this morning. Apparently if you click yes, it shows a pop up of what hate speech is.

Have you seen this on your Facebook feed?

First Facebook Image provided by Pixabay. Other images mine.