Stand aside Maru, Grumpy Cat and Lil’ Bub, the internet has a new feline distraction – for Australian politicos and wonks, at least.
‘Stop Tony Meow’ is a new browser extension that replaces photos of the Prime Minister with pictures of cute kittens, transforming even the most sensible news website homepage into a portrait gallery of furry friends.
The online game is the brainchild of software developers and designers Ben Taylor, Matt Kelsh and Dan Nolan, the man who brought the world the Paul Keating insult app.
The trio insist that they’re not making a political statement – just having a bit of fun.
'This isn't activism, it's Javascript,' says Mr Nolan. 'We were just taking a break from our day jobs, designing and building iOS stuff, and started mucking around.
'If people want to interpret it in that way, that's fine, but they should know they're being silly for getting hot under the collar about a line of code.'
He says there are no plans for any more politically-themed games or apps on the horizon.
'We kind of just lucked into this one out of good fortune. We're not trying to be one trick ponies by any stretch of the imagination - this was just a bit of distraction from our real world jobs of designing and engineering mobile applications.
'I'm sure if we have the opportunity to poke a bit of fun and play around with a bit of politics presents itself, we might have a look at something new. Anything can happen!'
