The case was brought by Austria's Green party over insults to its leader. It will have international ramifications as the court ruled the postings must be deleted across the platform and not just in Austria.

Legislators around Europe are getting hacked off with Facebook, Google, Twitter and others sitting on their hands while trolls spread fake news and hate speech.

Germany's cabinet approved a plan last month to fine social networks up to 50 million euro ($55 million) if they fail to remove such postings quickly and the European Union is considering new EU-wide rules.

The Viennese appeals court ruled that Facebook must remove the postings against Green leader Eva Glawischnig as well as any verbatim repostings, and said merely blocking them in Austria without deleting them for users abroad was not sufficient.

The court added it was easy for Facebook to automate this process. It said, however, that Facebook could not be expected to trawl through content to find posts that are similar, rather than identical, to ones already identified as hate speech.

The Greens hope to get the ruling strengthened further at Austria's highest court. They want the court to demand Facebook remove similar - not only identical - postings, and to make it identify holders of fake accounts.

The Greens also want Facebook to pay damages, which would make it easier for individuals in similar cases to take the financial risk of taking legal action.

Green parliamentarian Dieter Brosz said Facebook must put up with the accusation that it is the world's biggest platform for hate and that it is doing nothing against this.
Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has said hate speech has no place on the platform and the company has published a policy paper on how it wants to work against false news.