Two teenagers who ran over a possum and snapped its spine before posting the grisly footage to Snapchat have been given lighter punishments after being targeted by hacktivist group Anonymous.

Callum Gibson Mckenzie and Hunter Lawrence Jonasen, both 17, were each given 12 months probation and had no conviction recorded after pleading guilty to animal cruelty in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday.

The video showed a possum getting repeatedly run over by a car. Credit:Snapchat

The court heard Jonasen ran over the possum on Christmas Day last year, causing its eyes to bulge, its spine to snap and its entrails to hang out as it tried to flee into bushland without the use of its back legs.

McKenzie posted the gruesome act to Snapchat, where someone who viewed it recorded in on a phone and reported it to the RSPCA.