It's essentially a long-form, more detailed version of this:
Snyder Cut Campaign Was Fueled by Bots, WB-Commissioned Study Finds
A report commissioned by WarnerMedia reportedly finds the campaign to release Zack Snyder's version of Justice League was fueled by fake accounts.www.cbr.com
My two thoughts (finding the new cut to be superior but also not being the biggest Snyder fan and having no dog in the race):
My "armchair quarterback with zero proof" take: there is probably an element of truth to it, using bots to bolster one's case on social media is not particularly difficult nor unprecedented. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Snyder, someone in his camp/sphere of influence, and/or his most ardent and tech-savvy fans didn't engage in it to some degree (mixed in with actual fans who wanted to see the cut).
- "A report commissioned by WarnerMedia reportedly finds the campaign to release Zack Snyder's version of Justice League was fueled by fake accounts..." - Look again at that first part. "A report commissioned by WarnerMedia."
- With all the real world damage social media bots and fake accounts have been doing (to go further would violate HTF policies, but as the kids say IYKYK), it's kind of sad/funny/ironic for media outlets to be reporting so specifically on this particular topic.
But when, after the release of the Snyder Cut, the pressure didn't die down, but rather morphed into "restore the SnyderVerse"...this new spate of released information from a WarnerMedia commissioned report smells a little bit like a reverse hit piece.
I'd bet if some neutral third party investigated the issue (not that anyone should devote resources to something so trivial in the scheme of life right now) we'd find malfeasance from both camps.
FWIW, the article does emphasize that the commissioned report found that fake accounts still constituted a fairly small, if substantial enough, minority of social media accounts -- something in the teens percentage-wise estimated as at least 13%... vs a more common 3-5%. The article doesn't make clear quite how much impact (or actual traffic) that small minority of fake accounts had though. It's certainly possible/plausible for a well-orchestrated, deliberately malicious, vocal minority of such size to have a very outsized impact... but again, there's no clarity on that in this very long article.
I don't really have a dog in all this either. And I'm not really a big fan of Snyder's work, especially w/ his overall direction on the DCEU, but then again, I've long preferred Marvel over DC (back to my comic days) anyway. While I do have some/enough interest in his DC films, I'm certainly also glad to see him move on and for the DCEU to follow a new, different (and hopefully, less relentlessly dark and brooding) path...
_Man_
