Head of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has called for a self-regulatory body to be set up to monitor user-generated content (UGC).

UGC is used by businesses in the form of forums, blogs and video sharing sites such as YouTube to help boost search engine optimisation (SEO).

However, there is no set of regulatory rules that firms need to abide by concerning content posted online, which may occasionally be libellous or offensive.

According to John Wittingdale MP, the situation needs to be improved.

He told TechRadar that companies "need to have some form of self-regulatory body which sets the standards on this and that polices the industry".

"Just because you can get around the rules on the internet, doesn't mean that you shouldn't have rules," he added.

YouTube came under fire in a recent report published by the committee for its reluctance to regulate its content, compared to other sites that share videos such as MySpace.

Could regulation affect SEO?

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