Molly vs The Machines

The death of 14-year-old Molly Russell in 2017 was a defining moment for public perceptions of social media. Though now supplanted by TikTok, Instagram was, at the time, the favoured app among teenagers. And what was once seen as a benign platform for sepia-filtered selfies and lookbooks was exposed as stowing away deeply disturbing content promoting eating disorders, self-harm and suicide. Marc Silver’s harrowing documentary, Molly vs The Machines, is a sobering look at tech billionaires’ disregard for online safety.

Since the details of Molly’s death arose following a police investigation, her father, Ian Russell, has been campaigning for legislation to block teenagers from accessing distressing content online. His daughter spent the final minutes of her life scrolling Instagram; as Ian says, even there in the solitude of her bedroom, she was not alone, her last moments harvested and stored by a social media algorithm.

Silver’s documentary combines AI content with interviews with Molly’s loved ones. Scenes of generative AI lend a Black Mirror-esque horror to the film, amplified by Saya Gray’s dark ambient score. A bot, for instance, takes the guise of the titular algorithmic machine as an existential concept, while another adopts the voice of the proverbial Silicon Valley. The result is highly effective, conjuring the nightmare in which the Russell family lives every day.

The AI aside, interviews with the late teenager’s grieving father and friends ground the film in humanism. At one point, the public inquiry into Molly’s death is recreated with Ian’s blessing, and the result is emotionally devastating. The filmmakers do not sensationalise such scenes, instead using the documentary as an impassioned plea for accountability in social media.

At times, the use of generative AI as a narrative device somewhat belies the documentary’s anti-tech monopolisation messaging. While this subversion is evidently intentional, it feels a tad misguided, particularly at a time when Elon Musk’s Grok has been responsible for generating harmful content pertaining to young women and girls. AI’s presence throughout the feature does, however, allow for further discussion regarding big tech’s proliferation since the tragic events of 2017.

From a single family tragedy to the wider societal implications, the documentary looks at both the micro and the macro of safeguarding in social media. A gut-wrenching account of the dangers of online deregulation, Molly vs The Machines is essential viewing for anyone who doubts the algorithmic animus.