Is Warner Bros. Employing Bots and Staffers to Combat DCU Criticism Online?

Warner Bros. had a rough couple of years as the media company is seeing significant financial losses. In August, Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) saw its share price drop by over 10% after announcing a $9.1 billion write-down on its television networks and missing revenue estimates.

For the three months ending June 30th, WBD reported total revenue of $9.7 billion, a 5% decline year-over-year, along with a net loss of $9.9 billion, which included the $9.1 billion non-cash goodwill impairment charge. WB attributed these substantial losses to a US$9.1bn write-down in the value of its cable network.

WB’s movies and TV shows aren’t doing all that well when it comes to critical and audience reception as well with a few recent releases being exceptions. The last few DCEU movies released were either box office flops or barely broke even, and it seems that the company is unwilling to let the bad reputation tarnish the upcoming start of DCU, a new cinematic universe based on DC characters.

In recent times, Gunn’s DCU was already heavily criticized for appearing cheap. From costumes to supporting cast and locations, fans noticed that ‘Superman’ movie might appear cheap more akin to CW productions than a high-budget project.

Then there was also the recent casting of Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan. Fans heavily criticized the studio for going with a significantly older actor once again calling the production of the upcoming ‘Lanterns’ show “cheap” and “nonsensical.”

This is where the brunt of our today’s topic lies since after the initial backlash, the tide has changed and now there are numerous “fans” online “praising the casting.”

Users online noticed the eerie and seemingly stiff wording of the comments, it’s quite frankly not how real people online write and concluded that it’s probably bots.

There’s also the issue of Gunn blocking users who criticize his casting decisions:

And yes, I’m aware that the account that posted this is heavily biased, but take a look at the evidence. Also, this wouldn’t be the first time that WB is falsely hyping up its projects and going as far as to use staffers to defend them online.

HBO executives, specifically Casey Bloys and Kathleen McCaffrey, discussed using staffers to troll critics on social media. In a series of text messages reviewed by ‘Rolling Stone,’ they contemplated creating a “secret army” to respond to negative critiques, including one instance where Bloys suggested they find someone to make a counterpoint to a Vulture critic’s tweet about the show ‘Perry Mason.’

While they chose not to respond to that particular critic, they did engage in trolling critics with snarky comments from fake accounts in other instances.

But, Warner Bros was also a victim of targeted bots in the past. A study by ‘Rolling Stone’ and Warner Bros. reveals that Zack Snyder allegedly used fake accounts and made threats to Warner Bros. executives to secure the release of ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League,’ also known as the Snyder Cut.

The report claims that around 13% of the accounts driving the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut and #RestoreTheSnyderVerse campaigns were fake, significantly higher than the typical 5% found in viral social media movements.

The study also highlights instances of harassment towards Warner Bros. executives, including Ann Sarnoff, who faced backlash after stating that a Snyder Cut did not exist. Overall, it suggested a widening rift between Warner Bros. and Snyder, with little likelihood of continuing the SnyderVerse.

While it’s going to be impossible to prove whether these so-called bots are truly connected to Warner Bros, it’s certainly not too far-fetched to entertain the thought, especially after being caught using the strategy in the past.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!

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