European Union authorities have increased pressure on Facebook, Twitter and Google to amend their user terms to bring them in line with EU law after proposals submitted by the tech giants were considered insufficient.

The European Commission and consumer protection authorities in the bloc wrote to the three companies in June, asking them to improve their proposed changes to user terms by the end of September, according to letters sent to the companies and seen by Reuters on Monday.

The authorities have the power to issue fines if the companies fail to comply.

Twitter did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment and a Google spokesman declined to make immediate comment.

Facebook said it believes that the company is compliant with EU law but recognised that its terms could be made easier to understand and would work to meet the authorities' concerns.

The concerns centre mainly on procedures the social media companies proposed to set up for the removal of illegal content on their websites, terms limiting their liability and terms allowing them unilaterally to remove content posted by users.

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