Molly vs the Machines: the OSA Network stands with parents and calls for urgent action on online harms

Tonight (5th March), the documentary, Molly vs. The Machines will be shown at 9pm on Channel 4. It tells the heart-breaking story of Molly Russell who tragically took her own life aged just 14 after viewing harmful content online. Molly’s story, as told by her family and friends, is not an isolated one. It highlights how the toxic business models and practices employed by the social media and Big Tech companies to maximise profit continue to harm not just our children, but everyone.

The Online Safety Act Network (OSAN), which works with over 80 of the UK's leading child and online safety organisations and campaigners, including Molly Rose Foundation, founded by Molly's father Ian Russell, is standing with parents and all those demanding action to end online harms by issuing a clear, urgent demand for action:

Strengthen and fully enforce the Online Safety Act. Now.

With a few simple, targeted amendments to the Act, as laid out by OSAN in its 10 Point Plan, the government can address the root causes of online harm and ensure:

• No unsafe product reaches the market
• Platforms are safe by design - not profiting from harm
• Addictive, compulsive design features are banned
• Emerging threats from AI tools are addressed before the next tragedy
• Barriers to robust enforcement are removed

Maeve Walsh, Director, Online Safety Act Network, said:

"The death of Molly Russell and the suffering her family has had to endure are surely the clearest signals imaginable that the government can and must act today to stop online harms. By making a few targeted amendments to the Online Safety Act, we can prevent this incalculable loss from happening to another family. We cannot wait for the next tragedy before action is taken to keep everyone safe online and to hold the tech companies accountable for these harms.”

Andy Burrows, Chief Executive of Molly Rose Foundation, said

“Molly’s death was entirely preventable, but she is sadly one of many children who have lost their lives because of the business models of Big Tech and the commercial incentive to put profit before safety.
Parents are rightly demanding decisive action, and it is crucial that at this pivotal moment the Prime Minister stands with children and families to decisively strengthen the Online Safety Act.
Children’s safety and wellbeing must become the non-negotiable cost of doing business in the UK. It’s time to make product safety failings a thing of the past and to give parents and children the confidence that meaningful change is on the way.”

Danny Stone, Chief Executive, Antisemitism Policy Trust, said:

“Children and adults are both being served up racist content by social media and other online platforms. This is hate by supply rather than demand. We simply would not allow other businesses to do the type of harm to young people that social media does. The Government has an opportunity to be bolder, tougher, and decisive. It needs to act now and strengthen the Online Safety Act without delay.”

Kerry Smith, Chief Executive of the Internet Watch Foundation, said:

“The harm being done to children in the digital world is very real. The dangers are immediate, and the damage can have the most tragic of repercussions. When new technologies are made available to the global public, companies must make sure they are made safe by design, and we urge the Government to provide clear guidelines to make sure this happens.
There should be nowhere, not even in end-to-end encrypted parts of the internet, where child sexual abuse imagery can be shared and distributed. New threats must be addressed and anticipated, requiring legislation to be brought forward swiftly, including with regard to the regulation of AI, to ensure technology cannot be abused to exploit children.”

Julie Bentley, CEO of Samaritans, said:

“Molly vs. the Machines shows just how heartbreaking the consequences of dangerous online suicide and self-harm content can be. While the Online Safety Act is a great step forward, harmful content is still accessible and emerging harms, like AI chatbots, haven’t been adequately addressed. Ofcom must urgently take action against these platforms to protect the public, particularly if platforms continue to do the bare minimum despite lives being at risk.”

tèmítópé lasade-anderson, Executive Director at Glitch, said:

"We urgently need to address how online platforms operate and are regulated, if we are to tackle the individual and collective harms they pose to children and adults. Regulators must be emboldened to chip away at Big Tech's profit maximisation agenda, which has devastating costs for the safety and rights of users. Crucially, the Government ought to take a whole-of-society approach to better support children, online and offline: strengthening the Online Safety Act to ensure it is fit for purpose, investing and delivering on media literacy, proper regulation of AI, and funding libraries and youth centres.”

Stephen Kinsella, Founder of Clean Up The Internet, said:

"The Online Safety Act is meant to mean that what happened to Molly won't happen in the future. But whilst we still believe that the Online Safety Act can make a huge difference, it's not surprising many are losing patience, because progress has been far too slow. Whether it's fake accounts, or addictive algorithms, or unsafe AI chatbots, Ofcom's lack of pace and lack of ambition keeps letting the big tech companies off the hook. We hope this powerful film pushes Ofcom, and the government, to do more, more quickly."

Paddy Crump, Youth Director at FlippGen, said:

“Young people are crying out for changes to the online world. As young people, watching the film is horrifying because we know all to well the danger and risk the digital world poses. These risks have become accepted as normal, and many young people feel powerless to change the status quo. Seeing the film reinforces what many young people have also seen on social media. It is imperative that the Government acts swiftly and decisively to ensure safety by design becomes the norm in the digital world. The film lays bare the extent to which child safety is sidelined in the digital world. The digital world must be built for young people, in conjunction with young people, not at our expense. Build it and design it for us.”

Rachel Huggins, CEO of Internet Matters, said:

“The documentary is a sobering reminder of the devastating impact online harms have on children and families. It reinforces why creating safe digital spaces for young people must remain an absolute priority. The Online Safety Act provides an essential framework to regulate the propagation of harmful content, but its effectiveness relies on strengthening the legislation and ensuring consistent enforcement.
We stand with calls for further bold and meaningful action to protect young users from digital harm, and welcome the Government's consultation on improving children's safety and wellbeing online. Action must include requiring platforms to enforce their minimum age requirements and creating age-appropriate experiences for children, as well as ensuring the Act mitigates harms caused by AI chatbots. All digital spaces accessible by children must be built with children’s safety at their core - never treated as an afterthought.”

David Wright, CEO, SWGfL said:

"Molly’s story shows, with heartbreaking clarity, how quickly online experiences can shape a young person’s world. What we see every day in schools echoes this: our national data from over five million digital literacy assessments reveals that many children enter adolescence without the essential skills to recognise risks around privacy, security and online reputation. These gaps matter, because they are often the very points where harmful content can take hold. Strengthening the Online Safety Act is a vital step in turning this evidence into early, effective protection. We owe it to Molly, and to every family, to ensure that children grow up in a digital environment designed with their safety and wellbeing at its heart.”

Mark Rowland, Chief Executive at the Mental Health Foundation, said:

“Social media companies have been allowed, in pursuit of profit, to actively push harmful content to children that can be extremely dangerous for their mental health. While the Online Safety Act has gone some way to successfully limiting the spread of online content, there is far more that needs to be done to keep children and young people safe, and allow them to grow up happy, healthy, and free from the grip of social media algorithms that promote harmful material.”