An investigation commissioned to RS by WarnerMedia found that "at least 13% of the accounts involved in the general discussion of Zack Snyder's Justice League are considered fake, several more than the 3-5% average found to exist in other popular issues. In other words, although many real fans lobbied for the creation of the "Snyder Cut", nevertheless their voices were disproportionately amplified by the use of bots.
To recall, Justice League was released in theaters in November 2017 and despite being a commercial success ($700 million is no small feat), it turned out to be a rather big disappointment for fans of the DC cinematic universe. The presence of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg, however, did not bring in more than $700 million for the Warner Bros. movie studio (this performance was the lowest of the movie franchise). Apparently, the whole project was doomed to fail after director Zack Snyder was forced to retire due to a serious family matter.
The project was handled by Avengers director Josh Whedon, who, according to Warner Bros. Pictures president Toby Emmerich, would maintain the tone and elements that distinguished Zack Snyder's work. However, when the film was finally shown, more observant fans of the DC Cinematic Universe began to investigate and eventually discerned several minor and even major differences from what they had seen in the trailers. Soon after, a movement began to form calling for Warner Bros. to release the Snyder Cut of the film (Release the Snyder Cut). Finally, in November 2019, a major online effort by fans of the film franchise (and the film's supporting cast, as some had various issues with Josh Whedon) prompted the studio to renegotiate with Zack Snyder for a special edition of the film, Zack Snyder's Justice League. When it was finally made available in 2021, the film was the 4th most-watched film on HBO Max, and by all accounts, while long in length, it was better than the original.
However, questions were raised about the interest of the fans and whether it was indeed "organic". WarnerMedia decided to launch an investigation after some serious online harassment and malicious activities such as calls for boycotts and firings or even death threats. The company was able after investigations to identify communities "consisting of real and fake accounts that were spreading negative content about WarnerMedia because it did not seem to want the "SnyderVerse" to be restored, while directing their harassment towards then Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff and other executives and creators involved in the project.
The rolling stone hired a security firm to check out suspicious activity. It was eventually found that "without a doubt bots were involved" in the case. Another company used by WarnerMedia to investigate activity around the forsnydercut.com domain managed to find traces of an advertising service that promised "cheap, instant Avatar traffic to your website". Zach Snyder was the one who lit the internet on fire with his social media posts, including a photo he had captioned "JL Director's Cut Running Time 214 [minutes]" however it is unclear if he had any role or any involvement in the online campaign.
