Farrah Abraham is letting the world know she opposes a Florida bill that would ban kids under the age of 16 from social media.
HB 1, which passed the Florida House on Wednesday and was sent to the Senate for approval, would prohibit children under the age of 16 from having social media accounts, even if they have parental permission. It would also require social media companies to remove any underage users and delete all personal information with the aim of protecting children.
On Friday, Farrah — who lives in Texas, and whose 14-year-old daughter has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and earns money through Cameo and sponsorship deals but wouldn’t be impacted by this legislation — spoke with TMZ about her objections to the bill.
Farrah explained that she has given her daughter Sophia “like, tools” to keep her safe on social media. (Of course, Farrah did not explain what those “tools” were.)
The Backdoor Teen Mom also added a new entry into The Ashley’s ever-growing glossary of Farrah Speak: “predatorship.” (As always, The Ashley has posted Farrah’s words unedited, in order to preserve the genuine “Farrah Speak” goodness.)
“So I think Florida’s law that they’re trying to pass all the way to ban anyone younger than 16 year olds to not to use social media, I feel like, for myself, I have taken the time to let my daughter know about, like, tools, other people who are running these social platforms have creators come together for safety, to report people, all those things, so social media has been a successful, helpful tool,” Farrah rambled. “And when we’ve noticed, whether that’s bullying, ‘predatorship,’ just online criminal activity, we turned those things in and people have been removed, blocked, whatever may be needed for those platforms and safety.
“But I do not feel that children need to basically be to blame for other adults and other predators or bullies not being held accountable, and I think a big issue in our justice system is penalizing the innocent and allowing criminal activity to go rampant,” she told TMZ via video.
One of the things Farrah has had to let Sophia know about is dealing with inappropriate advances, according to TMZ. Farrah told the site that Sophia— who has more than 800k followers online– gets private messages from adult men on social media, and also requests on the site Cameo asking for photos of the teen’s feet.
“I hope to help children, I hope to advocate, and I know my daughter Sophia has stated she is not OK with children being taken offline,” Farrah said. “Like, that’s an outlet, creatively, for mental health, for well-being, that can be used for success. I think other parents who do not allow their children on social media, they have not equipped them to be successful adults when they grow up.
“You can’t hide from the Internet your entire life. and I think that’s just an injustice to what we need for our mental health, our well-being and our safety growing up.”
After speaking with TMZ, Farrah took to Instagram Friday to share even more thoughts about HB 1 and try one more time to make “predatorship” a word.
The video is now saved in her News Highlights.
“Hey, y’all, I was just noticing that Senate is going all the way with banning 16 year olds from social media,” Farrah said. “No doubt, there’s online bullying that has killed some of our teens, there has been Snapchats used to kill our kids with drugs, the list goes on.”
(The Ashley is a bonafide “Farrah Speak” translator, but even she is unsure how Snapchats have drugged kids to death.)
Farrah then stated that kids should get “tool kits” and have to take a class about Internet safety but then be able to access social media.
“But I have to say, if we’re going to have some discrimination with ageism online, what is going on with adults and teaching and giving their kids tool kits, and also social media having an online safety course that could get verified once it’s complete to access social media,” she said. “I think that’s really important for ‘predatorship,’ bullying, safety, also helping your own mental health and success, rather than just taking a great tool away that could set them up for their future and their careers and be an income source.”
“So, should we take schools and public forums away too for bullying, drugs and every other thing?”
If passed by the Florida Senate and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, HB 1 would go into effect July 1. You can read more about it here.
(Photos: Instagram; MTV)
There’s a big difference between minors being on the internet and being on social media. I can do research, read blog posts, watch videos and not leave myself open to weirdos and unsavory characters. Nobody is saying children shouldn’t have internet access, they shouldn’t be interacting with adults proposing disgusting things. Maybe banning social media interaction would cut down on cyber bullying and threats to mental health.
This law should be worldwide..
Two words Farrah Abraham says it all. I live in Florida Farrah and I promise you we do not need your non sense here. Zip it !
You cannot reason with Farrah.
Farrah completely misused the word “ageism”.
Children are vulnerable and don’t need to be on social media. I think this bill is a great idea.
“but the grown men who follow my child are all, like, cool.. “
Exactly. She’s so far off base with this topic it is unreal. What she allows her 14 yr old to do speaks volumes.
Farrah doesn’t want this bill to pass because she makes money off of posting on her daughters insta
Laughable that Farrah thinks social media companies do more than the bare minimum to police their platforms. Children don’t drive until they are a bit older because they lack the maturity to handle that responsibility, and children are not developed enough to handle social media. Too many bad things can happen on those platforms- even for adults.
Work in a middle school (or even upper elementary) for a little while and you’ll agree with this bill. Having their own social media accounts has been proven time and time again to be detrimental to children’s mental health, not to mention the dangers of online predators. Farrah is just upset because she makes money off her daughter’s social media accounts.
I completely support this! What is wrong with you Farrah?! In my country there’s a campaign with a pic of a kid and saying “Mommy, can this pic be only for you?” trying to make parents keep their kids offline. It’s up to them to decide if they want to be featured when they are old enough but…a baby or a toddler can’t consent to this. The fact that Sophia gets creepy requests and she doesn’t see the reason to protect her…ever since IG made a feature that only people you follow and they follow you back can DM you, I use it. It was not good before…and I am a fully grown woman, I can’t imagine a teen or a kid experiencing this. (Also thank god when I grew up, there was no social media…bullying was enough in person)
There is no reason on Earth why a minor should be on social media. It causes nothing but problems for them. I support that bill.
Great law. I would love to have a law like that here. Good job Florida.
Did Farrah not know that studies have shown that social media and the internet is the number one source of mental suffering? Spending time with loved ones , being outside, doing fun real acitivities etc are what helps our mental health.
And why would Sophias opinion matter? She is a child and of course thinks that stuff are unfair. A child would think that taking away bad, but fun stuff is wrong. That is why children should not be the boss.
Kids really don’t need to be on social media, but there’s no real way to police that. The fact that she doesn’t see how this could actually help kids just shows how far removed from reality she is.
They’d have to move so she can still tag team with her daughter. That kid never had a chance.
oh no, Farrah might have to get a real job instead of exploiting her child.
Someone call the waahmbulance.