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Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock @ellemagazine/Twitter (Licensed)

‘Elle’ completely botches the voter registration meme

Fake news of a Kim and Kanye split pushed some people too far.

 

Audra Schroeder

Streaming

Posted on Oct 18, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 3:46 am CDT

Earlier this week, a man used the news of Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson’s breakup as clickbait to draw people into Vote.org, and the tweeter, Tim Cigelske, said he got the idea from another account that did something similar with fake news of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West splitting up.

The move was divisive: Some thought it was a clever way to engage people, others rolled their eyes at the dupe. Elle magazine probably had good intentions when it tried its own bait-and-switch on Thursday, but people had already had enough. And, as many pointed out, it’s different when a media outlet is spreading misinformation.

https://twitter.com/ellemagazine/status/1052973502033264640?s=21

The link takes you to When We All Vote, which has an Elle-branded page. But it was too late. The thread got heated. People criticized Elle for not believing its readers could register to vote without clicking on celebrity news.

https://twitter.com/rgay/status/1052980089493762048

It was pointed out that Ashlee Marie Preston, a transgender writer and activist who is running for California State Assembly, tweeted this same Kim/Kanye news on Oct. 12, when it had a little more resonance. She got in the thread too. BuzzFeed reports that the Grande-Davidson tweet actually swayed public opinion.

https://twitter.com/AshleeMPreston/status/1052994158942515200

As of Oct. 18, the voter registration deadline for more than half the states has already passed, though more than a dozen states allow it up to and on Election Day.

Elle has previously tweeted about people getting registered to vote, without clickbait.

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*First Published: Oct 18, 2018, 3:17 pm CDT