Advertisers have complained for years that big social media companies do too little to prevent ads from appearing alongside hate speech, fake news and other harmful content.
Under the deal, announced on Wednesday by the World Federation of Advertisers, common definitions would be adopted for forms of harmful content such as hate speech and bullying, and platforms would adopt harmonised reporting standards.
The platforms agreed to have some practices reviewed by external auditors, and to give advertisers more control of what content is displayed alongside their ads.
Carolyn Everson, Vice President for Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook, said the agreement has aligned the industry on the brand safety floor and suitability framework, giving us all a unified language to move forward on the fight against hate online.
Campaigners who want more regulation of social media companies have been sceptical of voluntary measures such as those announced on Wednesday.
So time will tell how much of a difference this latest industry-led initiative will make, David Babbs of UK-based group Clean Up the Internet told Reuters by email.
The Stop Hate for Profit campaign behind the Facebook boycott is backed by the Anti-Defamation League and NAACP, two of the oldest and biggest anti-racism campaign groups in the United States.
In a statement last week, it said: Facebooks failures lead to real-life violence and sow division, and were calling on the company to improve its policies.
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