MtM on Tour: Molly vs. the Machine
It was in her bedroom that 14-year-old Molly Russell took her own life. Now her grieving father is confronting the Big Tech companies he holds responsible. He is up against a global system of hidden, unchecked power that extends from the boardrooms of the most powerful companies all the way into our children’s bedrooms.
“To her parents, she was a child,” says the AI-generated voice-over in *Molly vs. The Machines*. “But to me, she was a user.” At just 14 years old, Molly Russell came home from drama class, did her homework, watched TV with her family, and said goodnight. A few hours later, she took her own life. After her death, her parents discovered that Molly had been inundated with content about suicide and self-harm on Instagram. Alone in her room with her smartphone, Molly became increasingly entangled in the idea that she was worthless, that she would be better off dead—an echo of the content she was viewing. As her father, Ian Russell, says: “I have no doubt that Instagram contributed to my daughter’s death.”
“Molly vs. The Machines” follows two storylines that uncover what happened to Molly. One is the story of the evidence presented in the coroner’s court, which sheds light on the final months and moments of her life. The other reveals the rise of giant social media companies and their surveillance-based business model, driven by a desire for unbridled profit and power. In the words of Ian Russell: “Silicon Valley decides what’s appropriate for a 14-year-old to see, almost as an experiment.”
