Germany warns Facebook, Twitter of fines in offensive content crackdown

Social media giants Facebook and Twitter could be about to feel the wrath of German chancellor Angela Merkel after her government approved tough measures to combat offensive content.

The internet companies may be fined as much as 50m euros if they fail to monitor and remove hate speeches from their websites.

"Hate crimes that are not effectively combatted and prosecuted pose a great danger to the peaceful cohesion of a free, open and democratic society," the German government said in a statement.

Germany has seen a plethora of online vitriol directed towards asylum seekers in the country since the development of the migrant crisis.

Google-owned video streaming site YouTube faced a boycott from several large advertisers last month after it was unable to stop ads from appearing alongside hate-filled and offensive content.

Last month Germany’s minister of justice and consumer protection Heiko Maas said that the government was planning to put pressure on social media companies.

"This will set binding standards for how companies running social networks must handle complaints and require them to delete criminal content," Maas said.

The companies will now have only 24 hours to remove any content which violates German law once they are reported by users.