Meta has announced a major change to the default settings for many of those who use social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.

The change will affect those under the age of 18 and help to create “age-appropriate experiences for teens” across its sites.

This forms part of an existing company policy to ensure under-18s are protected online.

Meta announces major default setting changes on Facebook and Instagram to protect under 18s

Isle of Wight County Press: Parents will also be able to accept or deny changes made by their child on Facebook and Instagram.Parents will also be able to accept or deny changes made by their child on Facebook and Instagram. (Image: PA)

Speaking of the change, Meta stated: “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.

“This default setting will apply to all teens under the age of 16 (or under 18 in certain countries). Those already on Instagram will see a notification at the top of their feed letting them know we’re making these changes to their message settings.

“We’re also making these changes to teens’ default settings on Messenger, where under-16s (or under 18 in certain countries) will only receive messages from Facebook friends, or people they’re connected to through phone contacts, for example.”

In a later update to Facebook and Instagram, parents using the supervision tools will have the ability to approve or deny their child's requests to change default privacy settings.

Until now, parents were only notified when their child made changes to the settings.

Isle of Wight County Press: Under-18s will no longer be able to receive DMs from adults they do not follow on Meta-owned sites.Under-18s will no longer be able to receive DMs from adults they do not follow on Meta-owned sites. (Image: PA)

Meta said: “For example, if a teen using supervision tries to change their account from private to public, change their sensitive content control from ‘less’ to ‘standard’, or – now – tries to change their DM settings to hear from people they’re not already following or connected to, their parent will receive a notification prompting them to approve or deny the request.

“As with all our parental supervision tools, this new feature is intended to help facilitate offline conversations between parents and their teens, as they navigate their online lives together and decide what’s best for them and their family.”

This comes as the company faces scrutiny over the impact of its services on the overall safety and mental health of younger users.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister faced calls to consider banning social media and smartphones for those under the age of 16.

Conservative MP Miriam Cates, who made the calls during Prime Minister's Questions, said there had been a “marked increase” in poor teenage mental health since 2010 and called for stricter measures in response.