The German approach goes a step further than the European Commission wanted to go so far | Carl Court/Getty Images Germany unveils law with big fines for hate speech on social media ‘Facebook and Twitter missed the chance to improve their takedown practices,’ justice and consumer protection minister said.

Germany proposed a new law today to fight hate speech, threatening social media networks like Twitter and Facebook with €50 million fines.

Under the rules proposed, social media companies must clearly explain rules and complaint procedures to users and follow up on each complaint. Blatantly illegal content must be deleted within 24 hours, while other law-breaking content must be taken down or blocked within seven days.

"Facebook and Twitter missed the chance to improve their takedown practices," said Heiko Maas, federal minister for justice and consumer protection. Maas claimed social media networks don't take complaints seriously. "For companies to take on their responsibility in question of deleting criminal content, we need legal regulations."

Facebook only deleted 39 percent of hateful posts within seven days in January and February. That's worse than the 46 percent of illegal posts that were deleted between July and August last year. Only 33 percent were taken down within 24 hours this year, according to a government-funded study by a group of state agencies, Jugendschutz.net.

Twitter was equally shamed. Maas said the social media company only deleted 1 percent of law-breaking posts within 24 hours.

The companies didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The German approach goes a step further than the European Commission wanted to go so far.

As it stands, the e-Commerce Directive guarantees limited responsibility to internet platforms for what others post on their sites as long as they are passive intermediaries. If they are aware of illegal content on their site, they could be held liable for it if it isn’t taken down.