Germany’s governing parties have cleared the way for parliament to vote on legislation designed to get “illegal content” such as “hate speech” or “defamatory fake news” removed quickly from social networking sites.

The legislation provides for fines of up to €50 million for sites that fail to remove such content. The Cabinet approved it in April.

It then encountered strong criticism, including fears that networks would delete too many posts to avoid the risk of fines.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc said the governing parties agreed Friday to amendments that would allow for a vote next week.

The critics of the proposed legislation point that, if passed, it would be in direct violation of the freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech is the concept of the inherent human right to voice one’s opinion publicly without fear of censorship or punishment. “Speech” is not limited to public speaking and is generally taken to include other forms of expression. The right is preserved in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is granted formal recognition by the laws of most nations.

Freedom of expression is granted by Article 5 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, which also states that there is no censorship.