Facebook has announced a Europe-wide initiative to stop extremist posts on the social network.

The company launched the “Initiative for Civil Courage Online” in Berlin yesterday, pledging over US$1 million (A$1.45 million) in marketing funding to put a stop to extremism on the platform.

“Hate speech has no place in our society – not even on the Internet,” said the company’s Chief Operating Officer Ms Sheryl Sandberg in a statement .

The announcement comes after a rise of anti-foreigner rhetoric on German social media in the wake of the influx of 1.1 million migrants who entered the country last year.

Facebook said it had hired a firm to monitor and delete racist posts on its platform in Germany, Reuters reports.

In November, German prosecutors launched an investigation into Facebook on suspicion of not doing enough to prevent the dissemination of hate speech.