Ryan M. Milner is an assistant professor of communication at the College of Charleston, where he studies participatory media and public conversation. He is on Twitter.

Solutions to hateful speech often come down to gatekeeping. The Huffington Post, looking to “meet the needs of the grown-up Internet,” only allows comments from verified Facebook accounts. Google Plus launched a real-name policy, barring anonymous or pseudonymous participation. Reddit bans users and subreddits that garner widespread negative attention.

Read more of the New York Times op/ed.