Molly Vs The Machines

Alone in her bedroom, Molly Russell ended her own life at 14. Now her grieving father confronts the Big Tech companies he holds responsible. He exposes a global system of hidden, unchecked power that reaches into our children’s bedrooms from the boardrooms of today’s most powerful companies.

‘To her parents, she was a child’, says the AI generated voice-over which narrates Molly vs The Machines. ‘But to me, she was a user.’ At just 14 years old, Molly Russell returned home from drama class, finished her homework, watched television with her family and said goodnight. A few hours later, she took her own life. After her death, her parents found out Molly was bombarded with content about suicide and self-harm on Instagram. Alone in her room with her smartphone, Molly was losing herself in the idea that she was worthless, that it would be better if she was dead – echoing the content she was watching. As her father Ian Russell says: ‘I have no doubt that Instagram helped to kill my daughter.’

Molly vs The Machines follows the trail of two narratives exposing what happened to Molly. One is the story of the evidence presented in a Coroner’s court which illuminates the last months and moments of her life. The other reveals the growth of the social media giants and their surveillance based business model, driven by a desire for unrestrained profit and power. In the words of Ian Russell: ‘Decisions about what is suitable for a 14-year-old to see are being made in Silicon Valley, almost experimentally.’