Release The Snyder Cut Attacked By Rolling Stone Magazine

Rolling Stone Magazine has just published an extensive article exposing an investigation into the “Release The Snyder Cut” movement. According to the report, Rolling Stone Magazine claims that several bots could increase the number of users to get this director’s cut to release in home format.

Image via HBO Max

The report included interviews with several digital security companies. They estimated that fans used fake accounts to retweet the hashtag #ReleasetheSnyderCut. With this action, the movement had the necessary reach to achieve the tape’s release.

Release The Snyder Cut Movement Used Fake Accounts

Rolling Stone Magazine attacked the “Release The Snyder Cut” movement using various reports and expert opinions to formulate its brief. An information on the matter published in 2021 concluded,

“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, detected an increase in negative activity created by both real and fake authors. 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 magazine did other research with cybersecurity companies; one of these was Q5id. Rolling Stone interviewed Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer Becky Wanta. She said at the outset, “there’s no question that bots were involved.”

Two firms contacted by Rolling Stone that track the authenticity of social media campaigns spotted inauthentic activity coming from the SnyderVerse community.

One source says, "Zack was like a Lex Luthor wreaking havoc."https://t.co/KbCBSsm75A

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) July 19, 2022

Becky Wanta also detailed that the accounts that participated in the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign appeared almost simultaneously in huge numbers. That leads to the assumption that users fake profiles that would post and retweet automatically. She also detailed that after analyzing the messages, they could find one or two sources that dispersed the information to several accounts.

WarnerMedia commissioned another report which analyzed the accounts and interactions, concluding that at least 13% of the accounts that participated were fake. This exceeds the figures commented by Elon Musk, who assumed that fake accounts hovered around 5%.

According to all these reports, fans used fake accounts and bots to inflate the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign numbers, tampering with the results.

Where Does The Truth Lie?

One thing that comes into play is whether these reports are accurate and reflect the reality of what happened. Readers should consider that Warner Bros. removed several executives who may be behind these initiatives. It is a fact that the director Zack Snyder has a strong fanbase, so to say that the vast majority of the accounts were false could be an exaggeration.

The security firm Graphika reached the same conclusion. Analyst Avneesh Chandra stated, “The bulk of this activity was made up of real and passionate users taking direction from influential figures in the pro-Snyder community.”

For shame! Elon Musk canceled a 44 billion dollar deal to buy Twitter, because of their inability to accurately count bots, and this article hinges on using its method of randomly counting 100 accounts to justify the veracity of it's statements. Ridiculous! #RestoreTheSnyderVerse pic.twitter.com/N1g7JifxDG

— John C. Miller (@johncmiller96) July 19, 2022

Chandra added, “We regularly see these types of adversarial social media campaigns that are driven by real people coordinating online.” There were indeed fake accounts. However, likely, the number is not as reported but less.

Fans have stated that this is part of a campaign to discredit Zack Snyder’s fanbase. They said many people were involved and, in some cases, detractors sabotaged the movement, but they have always been transparent. Fans also emphasized that Warner Bros. has been campaigning against the group since they forced Warner to release the cut. And that these comments and reports are part of the campaign to discredit them.

To WB its more likely that Snyder plotted, stole, lied, threatened, used bots, commanded Ray fisher to pretend to be upset about racism and orchestrated a master plan to release the Snyder cut…than to simply accept that they did a bad job and the creative and audience were right

— 𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗖Ʊ𝗥𝗬 🇵🇸 (@theeSNYDERVERSE) July 19, 2022

Whether or not the campaign involved false accounts is a mystery. Most likely, yes, though less than the detailed reports. The director has captivated his fans with his directing, creating a base of acolytes who demand more of his work, especially within the DC Cinematic Universe.

Featured Image Via Warner Bros.