Molly vs The Machines is a new documentary premiering on Channel 4. It tells the story of a young girl who died by suicide after being influenced by negative social media algorithms, and her dad, who is now fighting for online safety.
This encourages an important national conversation on how we keep people safe online. Samaritans supports the pressure put on platforms to make their content safe for everyone.
Why making safe online spaces is so important
The dangers that exist online when it comes to suicide and self-harm related content raises the bigger questions of how AI, Big Tech, and social media are negatively infiltrating our lives.
If we want the internet to be a safer space, especially for individuals experiencing distress, things need to change.
But how can we do that?
Putting pressure on platforms for positive impact
Samaritans believe that dangerous self-harm and suicide content, such as graphic images, should be taken down by platforms as they can cause serious harm.
Platforms have a duty to keep their users safe and should never actively push dangerous content onto their algorithms.
That’s why it’s vital that platforms recognise and respond to the vital role they play in suicide prevention.
If users are intentionally looking for this kind of content, the platforms must minimise the availability of harmful content and maximise opportunities for improved help-seeking.
They should highlight helpful resources, share stories of recovery, and signpost to services like Samaritans. And they should also recognise that protections should be further endorsed for the safety of young people.
Keeping young people safe
And while some platforms do have restrictions like age limits for who can join and/or sign up, that doesn’t always mean that the content will automatically be age appropriate.
Parents and caregivers need to be informed of the risks so that they can have open and honest conversations with their children about what they’re consuming, how to stay safe, and what to look out for.
To find out more information, check out our guide, talking to your child about self-harm and suicide content online.
How to handle harmful content
Molly vs The Machines focuses mainly on the impact on young people, however, we know that no matter what your age, everyone is vulnerable to harmful content.
So, what do we do when we come across content that we think is harmful?
If you see posts on self-harm or suicide that you think are worrying, you should report it, even if you aren’t sure of the community guidelines of the online platform. You can:
Report it on the site: Sites and platforms have different processes, but reporting where it is hosted means it can be reviewed by their moderators and removed if it breaks community guidelines.
Visit report harmful content website: The Report Harmful Content website has step-by-step information on how to make a report on some of the most popular social networks and video sharing platforms. They can also help if you have already reported harmful content to a site and there has been no resolution.
The internet has the potential to be a powerful tool for suicide prevention. It can be a safe and inspiring place, for everyone. But it needs to be moderated. And pressure needs to be on the big platforms to do better for their users and put their safety at the forefront of everything.