Self-regulation, in the sense you will see in news and law, is when an industry, a profession, or an organization makes its own rules and watches its own members, instead of a government office or an outside body doing that job. Banks, newspapers, and sports bodies have all tried this. Supporters say the people closest to the work know it best. Critics say the fox is guarding the hens: a self-regulation system can be gentle with its own. Though actually, the same English word is also at home in psychology, where it means a person managing their own feelings, attention, or habits. That is a different picture with the same label, so you have to look at who is being regulated — a company, or a mind. In civic talk, the word is formal.