Was The Snyder Cut Campaign Fueled By Bots? 'It Doesn't Matter' Says Zack Snyder

In the lead-up to his sci-fi film "Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire" premiering to Netflix on December 15, The Hollywood Reporter published a lengthy profile of director Zack Snyder. Of course, the release of the so-called Snyder Cut — his four-hour reedited version of "Justice League" — is one of the most storied episodes of his career to date.

While discussing the grassroots fan campaign that led directly to the myth of the Snyder Cut becoming "Zack Snyder's Justice League," Snyder addressed the pervasive theory that many of the users online calling for its release were bots. "The truth is? It doesn't matter. The movie got made," he said. "If they were smart enough to employ bots in this thing, then they won. That movie has no business existing — and it does."

Snyder also acknowledged the fact that some of his vocal supporters were accused of toxicity. He ultimately attributed this to the nature of the internet, and thanked the contingent of those supporters who raised a sizable sum of money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Whether or not some posters were bots, then, Snyder is vocally appreciative of the #ReleasetheSnyderCut campaign's positive impact, both on his career and as a tool for fundraising.

A little over a year after "Zack Snyder's Justice League" premiered on Max, Rolling Stone published a detailed piece analyzing the social media frenzy around the director, and particularly how it spiraled into negativity toward anyone deemed to have a negative impact on his career.

At one point the article cites an investigation WarnerMedia conducted, the results of which ended up in two reports. These determined that at least 13% of accounts online posting about the Snyder Cut were not manned by human beings. This is more than double the standard 3-5% of all accounts online that can be considered bots. Nevertheless, if this number is accurate, the majority of Snyder adherents are real people.

This piece also cites a number of sources who claim that Snyder himself masterminded the social media fervor around the Snyder Cut to some degree. If this is indeed the case, then it's unsurprising that he remains appreciative of the online campaign to this day. Nevertheless, there's no definitive proof that the director personally commissioned some sort of bot campaign, so he may simply be thankful for its end result.