New report suggests Justice League Snyder Cut fan campaign was driven by bots and fake accounts

A new report regarding investigations at Warner Bros. revealed that bots and fake social media accounts drove the Justice League Snyder Cut fan campaign.

Warner Bros. commissioned two reports to examine how organic the Release the Snyder Cut fan campaign was. Rolling Stone got their hands on the reports and learned that a sizable number of social media accounts that talked about the Snyder Cut were deemed 13% fake. The result exceeds the typical 3-5% of fake accounts cyber experts typically see on social media. That’s not to say there weren’t genuine fans clamoring for its release, but the report says their message was “amplified by a disproportionate number of bogus accounts.” Here is what a portion of the report reads:

“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. 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.”

The report also points to many fake accounts harassing Warner Bros. brass, including Warner Bros. chairman Ann Sarnoff and producer Geoff Johns. Other significant news from the findings was that Godzilla vs. Kong was the target of review bombing by Zack Snyder’s Justice League fans. Many took to the film’s IMDB page and left 1-star reviews. According to the report, Zack Snyder was asked to stop fans from posting fake reviews, but he allegedly refused. Per Rolling Stone, Snyder was asked through an intermediary to ask fans to stand down and stop review bombing Godzilla vs. Kong, but, per the report, the director refused. It should be noted that Snyder claims in the report he was never asked to do so, and he added, “Furthermore, I do not control my fans. They have their own will and their own opinions; you really give me too much credit.” Warner Bros. ultimately worked with IMDB to weed out the fake reviews for Godzilla vs. Kong.

I thought all this Snyder Cut madness was over, but this latest story is bound to spark more debate on social media. Some will suggest that the report is an attempt from Warner Bros. to drive home the toxicity of the Snyder Cut fandom, while others will say this shows that maybe the fanbase wasn’t as strong as previously indicated. Either way, it will keep the film Twitterverse pretty interesting for the next few days.

What are YOUR thoughts on this latest report regarding Zack Snyder’s Justice League?