The campaign for the Snyder Cut of Justice League would be enhanced by bots. This became known during the investigation of WarnerMedia.
The online campaign that allowed the Snyder Cut version of Justice League to see the light of day has been greatly amplified by a number of bots and other fake accounts, according to a Rolling Stone article. A survey commissioned by WarnerMedia reveals that “at least 13% of the accounts that have participated in Snyder Cut discussions are fake, far exceeding the 3-5% of cyber experts typically seen on hot topics.”In other words, although many real fans insisted on this version, their voices were disproportionately amplified by the bots.
Justice League’s Snyder Cut Campaign Reportedly Boosted With Bots
Director Zack Snyder dropped out of the project midway through for personal reasons, Joss Whedon completed the film as an uncredited director, doing reshoots and other changes to shorten the film’s length and add humor. When it was released in 2017, it was a bitter failure. Shortly thereafter, many fans clamored for an original, darker interpretation of Zack Snyder’s infamous “Snyder Cut”. When this movie came out in 2021, it was the fourth most watched movie on HBO Max and the reviews were much better.
That being said, some wondered about the real enthusiasm of these fans. WarnerMedia then decided to investigate the matter after several serious cases of cyberbullying that called for, among other things, boycotts, layoffs, sometimes going as far as death threats. Communities were identified “consisting of real and fake creators spreading negative content about WarnerMedia for not restoring ‘SnyderVerse’.”They even went after the then-CEO of Warner Bros. Ann-Sarnoff and other leaders involved in the project.
Here’s what the WarnerMedia investigation found.
Rolling Stone also hired a security company to detect suspicious activity, and according to it, “there is no doubt that bots are involved.”Another company hired by WarnerMedia to investigate fake activity on the forsnydercut.com domain traced it back to a now-closed agency that promised “low-cost, instant traffic to your site.”Zack Snyder fanned the flames by posting various social media posts, including a photo and his caption “JL Director’s Cut Run Time 214 [minutes]”, but his involvement with the campaign, if it exists, has never been revealed.
As was said last year, all this in any case shows the strength, good or bad, of fan communities. “There are positive ways to influence change in any pop culture content, but screaming on social media, let alone sending death threats, shouldn’t be trivial,” Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar wrote at the time.