To many, the release of The Snyder Cut, director Zack Snyder’s version of the Justice League movie, marked a major victory for fans over all-powerful studios. However, it seems there may have been more to this fan uprising than first thought. A new report by WarnerMedia (via Rolling Stone) claims that a large number of bots and inauthentic accounts were used in order to bolster the argument and force the studio to allow Snyder to create his director’s cut.
The report discovered that at least 13 percent of the accounts used to discuss the release of The Snyder Cut were indeed fake. While this may not sound like a large amount, the average number of fake accounts used for such a trending issue usually totals around five percent. That suggests, though there were plenty of real Zack Snyder fans calling for his version of Justice League, the topic was massively overemphasized by fake accounts and bots. Many of which were used to spread negative comments regarding Warner Bros. and some of its executives.
“After researching online conversations about the Snyder Cut of the Justice League’s release, specifically the hashtags ‘ReleaseTheSnyderCut’ and ‘RestoreTheSnyderVerse’ on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, [the analysts] detected an increase in negative activity created by both real and fake authors.”
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One such victim of the onslaught of bots was chairman and CEO of Warner Bros., Ann Sarnoff, “with the majority of authors calling her a liar for the claim that there is no Snyder Cut of the movie and called for Warner Media to fire her. These authors also started using the hashtag ‘BoycottWarnerBros.’”
“One identified community was made up of real and fake authors that spread negative content about WarnerMedia for not restoring the ‘SnyderVerse.’ Additionally, three main leaders were identified within the authors scanned on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram — one leader on each platform. These leaders received the highest amount of engagement and have many followers, which gives them the ability to influence public opinion.”
This is Not the First Time that Bots Have Been Used to Support Zack Snyder
Warner Bros. Pictures
The report even goes on to claim that Zack Snyder himself may have been involved. The director allegedly “confronted an executive in the studio’s postproduction department and issued a threat: ‘Geoff and Jon are dragging their feet on taking their names off my cut. Now, I will destroy them on social media.’” After speaking with “more than 20 people” involved in both Joss Whedon’s cut of Justice League and The Snyder Cut, many of them believe that Snyder did work to “manipulate the ongoing campaign.”
While Snyder has claimed that it was likely Warner Bros. who was using the campaign for their own ends, one source stated that “Zack was like a Lex Luthor wreaking havoc.” — a description that Snyder would surely refute.
Sadly, this is not the first time that fake accounts have been used to support the work of Snyder. The director’s wins for Best Cheer Moment and Fan Favorite Film at the recent Academy Awards were also seemingly influenced by bots, with a report revealing that the majority of active contributors to the vote were autonomous web programs designed to cast fake votes in the thousands.
The tale of The Snyder Cut, and the slowly emerging controversy surrounding it, is sure to continue. But some will always be satisfied with finally seeing the movie they had always envisioned, regardless of how they got there.
