Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg sued over hate speech Prosecutors accuse Facebook of tolerating hate speech posts.

BERLIN — Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and other senior executives from the social media giant are being sued in Germany for failing to ban hate speech on the site.

Prosecutors in Munich launched the legal action after a complaint by Chan-jo Jun, a lawyer based in Würzburg, that accuses Facebook of tolerating hate speech, Holocaust denial and calls to murder or violence, Der Spiegel reported.

Alongside the billionaire Zuckerberg, others facing charges are Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer, and the network's top executives in Brussels and Berlin, Richard Allan and Eva-Maria Kirschsieper.

German law bans hate speech targeting groups, glorification of the Nazi regime, and Holocaust denial. Facebook is supposed to block such posts, but has repeatedly faced criticism for its failure to do so.

The complaint lists a series of posts that were not deleted by Facebook, in spite of repeated requests by users, according to Der Spiegel.

Justice Minister Heiko Maas called on the network to improve its response to hate speech and said he would take legal measures if the company doesn't comply by March.

A previous attempt to sue top Facebook officials by prosecutors in Hamburg failed because the accused were not under German jurisdiction.