Fact Check: No, Russian Bots Didn’t Cause Snow White to Bomb at the Box Office

A viral screenshot making the rounds on March 21, 2025, claimed Vogue published a piece titled: “Disney Confirms Russian Troll Farms At Heart of Bad Snow White Opening Weekend.” It looked legit. It named an author, Abraham Kohen. It even had the Vogue layout. But here’s the thing: it’s 100% fake. There is no such article. It never existed.

The Claim and the Clickbait

The image started circulating just days after Disney’s Snow White remake opened to a lukewarm $43 million domestic debut. According to the viral post, Vogue ran a story accusing Russian troll farms of tanking the movie’s box office. Some folks ran with it. After all, the movie’s been in the culture war crosshairs for months, so blaming foreign interference probably didn’t seem that wild.

But the screenshot? Fabricated. And the author, Abraham Kohen? Doesn’t exist in Vogue‘s contributor list.

Fact Check: Confirmed Fake

On March 26, 2025, fact-checking outlet Lead Stories dove in. They did a deep search of Vogue‘s site using Google tools like site:vogue.com and keywords like “Disney confirms Russian troll farms.” They found nothing. No article, no author, no smoking gun.

Further analysis showed the viral screenshot was likely a Photoshopped version of a different article. Vogue‘s design elements were there, but the actual content? Fabricated.

So How Did Snow White Actually Do?

The live-action remake dropped March 21, 2025. Despite all the noise, it opened at $43 million—below the $48-58 million projections, per CNN Business. It still topped the box office, but lagged far behind other Disney reboots like Cinderella (2015), which made nearly $92 million (adjusted) on a much smaller $138 million budget.

Disney’s Snow White had a massive $270 million budget. That gap alone would raise eyebrows. Add to that some loud online backlash over the casting of Rachel Zegler and changes to the story, and you’ve got a recipe for underperformance. But again, no credible source—not Disney, not the trades—ever pointed fingers at foreign interference.

Troll Farms: A Real Threat, But Not Here

For the record, Russian troll farms are a thing. The now-defunct Internet Research Agency (IRA), once run by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, absolutely ran misinformation ops during the 2016 U.S. election. But there is zero credible evidence tying any Russian troll operation to Snow White‘s box office numbers.

Sure, it’s not impossible. Coordinated online hate campaigns can exist. But in this case, the backlash seems homegrown. No social media forensics, bot analysis, or credible news reports support the idea that this was anything more than domestic discontent.

Why It Matters

This hoax is a perfect example of digital manipulation meeting confirmation bias. Slap a controversial subject (Disney), add a geopolitical bogeyman (Russia), and throw in a big name (Vogue), and you’ve got viral bait. The story spread fast because it felt believable. But that doesn’t make it true.

Bottom Line

No, Vogue did not publish that article. No, Disney did not blame Russian troll farms. Yes, Snow White struggled at the box office—but not because of foreign disinfo ops. This was a case of Photoshop, outrage, and a slow news day.

Always check the source before you rage-share.