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Agents of Chaos
By Melissa Camacho,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Insightful docu about foreign meddling in the 2016 election.
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What's the Story?
The television docuseries AGENTS OF CHAOS explores the foreign meddling that took place in the 2016 United States' presidential elections. Interviews with some major political and media players of the time, including former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Russian news editor Margarita Simonyan, former CIA Director John Brennan, and Carter Page, Donald Trump's campaign advisor, offer their insights about the events leading up to, and surrounding, the 2016 race. It explains how, since 2103, Russian troll factories and hackers were slowly able to create public discord in Russia, in the Ukraine, and later, the United States, by creating memes and embedding assets in social media and using bold programs designed to infiltrate specific accounts of major political players. It explains how these efforts impacted people's decision-making processes, and the long-term consequences it's having on people's faith in the American electoral system. The failure of U.S. national security to recognize or prevent these threats, and the efforts of domestic agencies to sway the elections, is also discussed. Archived footage from political events before, during, and after the elections is also featured.
Is It Any Good?
This thoughtful and well-organized series offers a comprehensive look into the political machinations of Russia and the United States that led the systematic efforts to create disinformation campaigns. , Co-directed by award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney, Agents of Chaos highlights how these events didn't "fix" the 2016 election, but helped destabilize and create divisiveness within the electorate by distorting information that people were using to think about the political issues most relevant to them. In doing so, it points to how vulnerable Americans were, and continue to be, when exposed to things like distorted memes, conspiracy theories, and information campaigns disseminated throughout the online public discourse in order to motivate doubt, fear, and outrage.
It's packed with information, and there are moments when it gets a little slow. Nonetheless, Agents of Chaos competently guides viewers through the complicated aspects of foreign interference, including the infamous release of Democratic leaders' emails by WikiLeaks, and the Mueller investigation. It also makes an attempt at presenting facts objectively while explaining the various ways these events connect. Overall, it's a documentary that raises some important, but harrowing, questions about the power of disinformation, and the U.S. electorate's inability to recognize it, which makes it well-worth pushing through.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the fact that teenagers get much of their news from social media. According to Agents of Chaos, this is one of the reasons social media platforms were targeted during the 2016 election cycle. What things can parents do to help young social media users navigate the information they are getting through sites like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube?
Agents of Chaos, and other media sources, highlight problems in the U.S. political process. What are some things you can do to help solve them?
TV Details
- Premiere date: September 23, 2020
- Cast: Andrew McCabe , Margarita Simonyan , Carter Page
- Network: HBO
- Genre: Reality TV
- TV rating: TV-MA
- Last updated: February 27, 2022
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