Twitter and Facebook face £40million fines for failing to remove hate content

FACEBOOK and Twitter face £40million fines for failing to remove hate content under new laws in Germany.

The web giants, plus Instagram, Snapchat, Google and YouTube, must act within 24 hours of a complaint.

Last night top Tory Nigel Evans said Britain must stop dragging its feet and impose similar laws here.

The ex-Commons deputy speaker said: “If Germany can do it there is no excuse the UK can’t do it as well.”

Under what is called the Network Enforcement Act, all social media giants with more than two million users must delete violent threats and slander within a day of being alerted.

The crackdown came into force on January 1.

Mr Evans said it would prove there can be “no more lame excuses by any social media outlet that they cannot remove content quickly.”

Facebook faces a double whammy in Germany, where watchdog the Federal Cartel Office has launched a probe into its business practices.

Official Andreas Mundt said: “We have informed the company we believe it is dominating the market.

“And we criticise the way the company collects and exploits personal data as a possible abuse of its market power.”

He warned: “Maybe in the end we will have to ban the collection and use of data from third sources without the express agreement of users.”