Facebook and Google are coming under mounting pressure from advertisers to establish an independent standards body with the power to enforce common policies on inappropriate content.

Leading the charge is advertising trade body ISBA which wants a set of common policies to be established governing the identification, monitoring and deletion of content deemed to be beyond the pale.

With a client list including the likes of Lloyds Bank, Unilever and Procter & Gamble the screw will turn that bit harder on both internet giants to finally get their house in order, although this is predicated on both companies agreeing on a set of common principles.

Should this find favour then other social platforms such as Twitter and Snapchat would be invited to join the fold.

Addressing the Financial Times ISBA director-general Phil Smith said: “At a minimum, what we’re looking for is independent oversight and reporting. This would build confidence in the platforms themselves and would be good for their reputations.”

ISBA's argument is that self-regulation is in the tech industry’s own best interests as a means of both building consumer and advertiser confidence in their operations while staving off the threat of government regulation.

Thus far Google and Facebook have sought to resolve their issues independently, with Google recruiting an army of 10,000 moderators to help it check YouTube content while Facebook has launched a publisher survey to weed out ‘untrustworthy’ sources.