The parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Meta, has launched new direct messaging restrictions aimed at enhancing the safety of teenage users on its platforms.

As a result, the new restrictions will help prevent unsolicited messages to teenagers via the social media platforms.

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On Instagram, adults over the age of 18 were already restricted from messaging teens who don’t follow them, however, now, this has been applied to all users under the age of 16, and in some regions under 18, by default.

Meanwhile, on Facebook Messenger, teenagers will only receive messages from individuals who are already their Facebook friends.

Meta is also updating its parental control features, resulting in guardians having the authority to approve or reject any changes that teens make to their default privacy settings.

Commenting on the change, the tech giant said: “Under this new default setting, teens can only be messaged or added to group chats by people they already follow or are connected to, helping teens and their parents feel even more confident that they won’t hear from people they don’t know in their DMs.”

Existing users will be informed about these changes through notifications.