“This will set binding standards for how companies running social networks must handle complaints
and require them to delete criminal content,” Mr. Maas said of the proposal, under which companies could face fines of up to 50 million euros, or $53 million.
The German criticism over how social media companies handle hate speech and other illicit content online is part of a wider global pushback.
In response to this criticism and to a recent tide of hate speech targeting new refugees in Germany, many tech companies agreed
to work with the country’s officials in 2015 to remove xenophobic and racist messages from their digital platforms.
On Tuesday, Heiko Maas, Germany’s minister of justice and consumer protection, said he would propose a law
that would impose stiff fines on companies whose social media platforms did not respond swiftly enough to complaints about illegal content.
Yet for a growing number of policy makers in Europe, the United States and elsewhere, the social media companies have a responsibility to block harmful content from their digital platforms, and they must respect national rules
that often run counter to Silicon Valley’s efforts to operate across borders.
