Starting today, Germany plans to enforce a new law that compels social media companies such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. to remove posts containing “hate speech” within a specific time frame or face fines of up to €50 million (around $58 million).

The Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz law (NetzDG for short) went into effect in October, but penalties are being applied starting Jan. 1.

Under the new law, social media sites have just 24 hours to remove posts containing hate speech, or up to 7 days in more “complex” cases. The law only applies to social media sites with more than 2 million members, the BBC reported.

Facebook, Twitter and Google LLC’s YouTube are said to be the main targets of the law, but other popular networks, including Reddit, Tumblr, Flickr and Russia’s VK service, will also have to comply.

NetzDG was passed into law in June in spite of some fierce criticism that it could curtail freedom of speech. However, a three-month grace period meant that companies will be penalized only if they fail to act on hate speech now.

Under the law, social media companies are also compelled to put in a place a structure to make it easy for users to report hate speech they come across. The BBC said Facebook has already hired several hundred more staff in Germany to monitor and deal with such reports.

Germany already has some of the toughest laws in the world governing hate crimes, the BBC reported. In a crackdown last June, German police raided the homes of 36 people suspected of posting hate speech online.

To help facilitate the law, Germany’s justice ministry has also made forms available on its website that citizens can use to report social media posts containing hate speech.

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