How many people actually saw Armie Hammer's racist movie?

We've been writing about psyops and industry plants a lot lately. And about how both terms are being applied to more complex viral sensations. But there are definitely some trends out there that deserve the question, "Is this only popular because of a successful marketing campaign?" For instance: Citizen Vigilante, the cheap, direct-to-streaming action movie starring Armie Hammer.

Citizen Vigilante’s anti-immigrant politics have made headlines everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to WIRED, with the latter citing LibsOfTikTok's Chaya Raichik as one of the movie's fans. But Raichik's main comment on the movie that I can find is an X post labeled "paid partnership." Same as a number of other big X accounts talking about the movie. Elon Musk, himself, also posted the entire movie on X for free, which supposedly coincided with Citizen Vigilante hitting the top of streaming rental rankings that weekend. But it’s still isn’t clear what all of that actually means.

The right wing is spending a lot of time and money on a campaign to make you think that this movie — and, by extension, X dot com — is popular. That the film’s notorious director, Uwe Boll, and its disgraced star are actually speaking for the masses. That their profoundly racist creation is speaking a dangerous truth that the global liberal establishment doesn’t want you to hear, but that you, apparently, agree with. But, again, is that true?

Well, I spent the last month trying to actually figure out if anyone has watched this stupid thing. I’ve dug through streaming data, Letterboxd posts, talked to experts, and even emailed Boll, himself. And after all of that, best as I can tell, I’d say maybe a few thousand people actually bought the movie. Here’s how Citizen Vigilante became the perfect right-wing psyop.