Elle magazine tries to trick users into registering to vote
Elle magazine is under fire for its misleading tweet claiming Kim and Kanye West split up. The link actually leads to a voter registration page.
Elle magazine came under fire Thursday for sending a false tweet to its 6.8 million followers claiming Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are “splitting up” — but the attached link directed readers to register to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.
“Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are splitting up,” Elle’s verified account tweeted with emojis of a broken heart and panicked face.
Stunned readers who clicked on the link for more details were directed to a “Register To Vote” page.
“So far in the primaries, women have beat long-time incumbents and created historic races, all while redefining what it looks like to be a woman in politics. And now you have the opportunity to vote for them, or whomever you choose, in the midterm elections,” read the page where readers were expecting details of the power couple’s alleged split.
The misleading tweet was quickly slammed as “click bait” and “trash nonsense” by followers. There is no actual story about any breakup of the celebrity couple’s marriage on Elle’s website. West and Kardashian have been married since 2014 and have three children -- the rap legend recently made headlines with a highly public White House visit where he spoke with President Trump about a variety of issues.
“Kim and Kanye are not splitting up, and Elle is cruelly spreading fake news about someone else's marriage to try to get people to vote. This is sick,” Daily Caller media editor Amber Athey tweeted. “It’s one thing for random twitter users to do this, but Elle is a verified account purporting to share ‘news.’ Knowingly spreading fake content is unacceptable.”
Axios’ Bubba Atkinson added, “It’s not clever — its taking advantage of the situation. There are smarter ways to do it without lying in a climate where trust in media is crazy low.”
Elle magazine falsely tweeted that Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are splitting up. (Reuters)
Reporter Britteny Hopper responded, “You give journalists a bad name. This is horrible. So unethical,” while BuzzFeed's Ryan Mac simply wrote, "Delete this."
HuffPost political editor Ariel Edwards-Levy wrote, “This is a link to a voter registration page, which implies that elle readers aren't interested in voting unless they're being tricked into it with fake celeb breakup news, which seems...super insulting to elle readers, actually?”
“Deceptive practices are generally frowned upon with regards to electioneering,” social media guru Jerry Dunleavy wrote.
Meanwhile, CNN star political reporter Chris Cillizza called Elle’s tweet “brilliant.”
In a follow-up post, Elle apologized for the tweet calling it a "bad joke."
"We made a bad joke. Our passion for voter registration clouded our judgement and we are sincerely sorry."
However, fans were less than thrilled with the magazine, demanding they take the original tweet down.
"Reposting the tweet is like a double tap for clicks. Not a sincere apology if you leave the link there," wrote one Twitter user.
"At the expense of someone’s marriage. Not even close to being funny or cute," tweeted another individual.
Elle is owned by Hearst, one of the world’s largest publishing companies. Hearst did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Representatives for West and Kardashian did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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