Social media sites in Germany could be fined $50 million for removing illegal content too slowly. The government is cracking down on illegal posts, including hate speech, slander and fake news. A proposed new law would give sites seven days to delete illegal content, or get a big fine. They would have to delete "clearly criminal" content within 24 hours. Germany's justice minister said Twitter deletes only 1% of the hate speech it is told about.
The minister said the fines were necessary due to worries about the influence social media is having on public opinion. He said the biggest problems were social networks not taking users' complaints seriously enough and comments being deleted too slowly, or not at all. The minister wants sites to set up a complaints team that works 24/7. A digital organization said the 24-hour deadline for sites that get a billion posts per day was "utterly impossible".