Germany on Wednesday, April 5 took the European lead in cracking down against hate speech and fake news, threatening social media giants with fines of up to 50 million euros if they failed to remove offensive posts promptly, AFP reports.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet approved the tough measure after assessing that companies like Twitter and Facebook were not doing enough to erase content that ran afoul of German law.

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

Since the arrival of around one million asylum seekers in Germany since 2015, the volume of xenophobic hate speech has exploded online.

Alarmed by the incendiary nature of the posts, the government has repeatedly warned the online behemoths to take action to better police the content on their network.

The web companies had pledged in 2015 to examine and remove within 24 hours any hateful comments, but in a recent report tracking progress on this front, Justice Minister Heiko Maas said not enough was done.

Maas said Twitter only took down one percent and Facebook 39 percent of the content reported by users deemed to flout Germany's anti-hate speech laws.

Google's YouTube video sharing platform fared far better, with a rate of 90 percent according to a government study cited by the minister.

Beyond hate speech and fake news, the draft legislation also covers other illegal content, including child pornography and terror-related activity.

The companies would have 24 hours to remove any posts that openly violate German law after they are flagged by users.

Other offensive content would have to be deleted within seven days after it is reported and reviewed.

Executives of the social media groups also risk individual fines up to five million euros ($5.3 million) in case of non-compliance.

Under German law, Holocaust denial, incitement of hatred and racist speech are illegal.