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'Snyder was like Lex Luthor': Warner Bros report reveals #ReleasetheSnyderCut 'bolstered' by fake accounts

According to two different reports by Warner Bros, 'Release the Snyder Cut' was trended by a lot of 'fake' social media accounts

BY AAYUSH SHARMA

UPDATED JUL 19, 2022

Official poster of 'Zack Snyder's Justice League' (DC/WB)

We all know how big of a role social media played in putting pressure on Warner Bros. to release the ‘Snyder Cut’ of the 2017 movie ‘Justice League’. The film, which was released in 2017, was panned by the critics and fans were really annoyed as to which way DC and WB were going. However, Snyder claimed that the movie he made was completely different and that what Joss Whedon did after his exit was ridiculous. After a campaign that saw millions of users requesting the production company to ‘Release the Snyder Cut’, ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ finally made its way to HBO Max in 2021. However, an investigation by Warner Bros. has now revealed that the film found the bulk of that support for ‘#ReleasetheSnyderCut’ through “bots”.

Yes, you heard it right. According to the reports commissioned by the production giant, the four-hour cut of ‘Justice League’ had massive support on social media and a big portion of those social media accounts tweeting about the movement were fake or “inauthentic”. The reports also suggested that a total of 13% of the accounts taking part in the online campaign 'Release the Snyder Cut' were fake and experts feel that the aforementioned number is quite high because the average amount of bots seen on trending topics is around three to five percent.

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(Editors Note: This image was altertered using digital filters) Director Zack Snyder attends The "Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice" New York Premiere at Radio City Music Hall on March 20, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

The reports, which were published by Rolling Stone, don’t erase the fact that a lot of people were actually in support of the movement, but they suggest that the campaign was excessively pushed by inauthentic accounts. The decision for investigation was taken after a lot of influential names sitting in the WB management faced backlash and received a lot of online abuse for allegedly ruining the DC Extended Universe.

“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 the negative activity created by both real and fake authors,” the report stated. The report also found that communities were created in order to malign WarnerMedia’s image for not restoring the Snyder Verse.

However, the biggest claim in the report came when multiple sources alleged that Zack Snyder helped in manipulating the overwhelming response and said, “Zack was like a Lex Luthor wreaking havoc”.

Actors Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, Ray Fisher and Henry Cavill attend the 'Justice League' photocall at The College on November 4, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Snyder feels that if anyone was trying to pull the strings on the social media campaign then it was the WB. According to the filmmaker, WB was “trying to leverage my fan base to bolster subscribers to their new streaming service.”

This is not the first time Snyder has found himself in such kind of controversy. In May 2022, a report by The Wrap found that Twitter bots apparently helped ‘Army of the Dead’ and ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ in winning categories such as Oscars Fan Favorite and Oscars Cheer Moment at the 94th annual Academy Awards. The report categorically stated that “autonomous web programs” cast “thousands of fake votes” for the aforementioned movies and made them win the accolades. The experts also claimed that the accounts that voted for Snyder’s movie didn’t look like they were “generated by a human user”.

This is a pivotal moment for the ‘#RestoretheSnyderVerse’ movement because fans have been demanding to have Snyder back for future ‘Justice League’ movies. However, it seems the latest reports won’t please the higher management of the WB and they might not even think of Snyder going forward.

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WB seems to be in a dilemma because of things that have happened recently. Ezra Miller has completely shattered everything with his antics and now this report will force the WB management to take some stern actions. However, they might get a lot of backlash for doing something drastic.

Let’s see what happens next.