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By Kelly Wynne
Culture Writer
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Voter registration links are circling the internet in disguise as Twitter users are using breaking entertainment news stories to encourage new voters to cast a ballot. The trend started on Friday when comedian Kathy Griffin pulled the prank on her followers.
"I've decided to release the voicemail Trump left for me the day the infamous photo was released," she told her Twitter followers. "It took me some time to decide to do this, but I feel it's important to share it with the world."
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Following the text was a link which led to vote.gov, a public site that allows visitors to register to vote. The link was also seen Sunday in a tweet about Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson's public breakup.
"Wow, I can't believe this is why Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson split up," read the tweet, which has been retweeted upwards of 20,000 times. On Tuesday, Tim, writer of the tweet, told Newsweek the link has been clicked upwards of a million times.
"You may or may not care about Peter Davidson and Ariana Grande, but either way you deserve to vote — and you should vote," Tim wrote in a blog post on the viral moment. "If this serves as a reminder to 20,500 or so people, then it was worth it."
With tens of thousands of shares, many are supportive of the sneaky redirect. Others are annoyed at the use of the information they're genuinely interested in reading.
"I'm already registered and these are KILLING ME I'm just out here for the tea," said one Twitter user in reference to the Grande and Davidson breakup drama.
Another user commented on the Internet's ability to ignore location. "I'm don't even live in America how could you do this to me."
Other Twitter users tried the same formula by starting rumors that Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West were getting divorced and Ariana Grande released nude photos of Pete Davidson.
One user mocked the concept altogether in a lengthy statement. "Here is some misleading text intended as clickbait, in pursuit of the admittedly long odds that my account is followed by intellectually curious and politically aware young people who are somehow not yet registered to vote," the tweet read, followed by the vote.gov link.
All users sharing the hoax are suggesting followers vote in their registered state in the November 6 midterm elections.
This article has been updated to include Newsweek's correspondence with Tim.
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