When the requirements of the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) come into force, technology companies, including Meta, will have to meet the criteria set out in that legislation.

Among the coming changes, Meta announced Monday that it will let people in the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland decide how they share information between Facebook, Messenger and Instagram. That means those people will be able to separate those accounts so that their information isn’t shared between them at all.

One of the choices people will have is the ability to use their Facebook and Messenger accounts together or separate them completely, with each account being its own. However, if you opt for a standalone Messenger account, the announcement makes it sound like you’ll need to create a new account:

“People who use Facebook Messenger can choose whether they want to continue using Facebook Messenger with their Facebook account, or whether they prefer to create a new, separate Messenger account.”