Huge fines proposed for social media sites that fail to remove illegal content

Germany’s justice minister has proposed fines of up to €50m for social networking sites that fail to swiftly remove illegal content, such as hate speech or defamatory "fake news".

Germany’s justice minister has proposed fines of up to €50m for social networking sites that fail to swiftly remove illegal content, such as hate speech or defamatory "fake news".

Heiko Maas said sites should also nominate a person responsible for handling complaints, who could face fines of up to five million euro (£4.3 million) personally if the company fails to abide by mandatory standards.