Malicious tweets targeting epilepsy charity trigger seizures

At least two people had seizures after viewing malicious tweets featuring flashing gifs that deliberately targeted the Epilepsy Society.

Thames Valley police said it was investigating the tweets as a hate incident, after at least 200 seemingly coordinated messages were sent to the charity and its supporters in recent days.

A number of other people including children were traumatised by the tweets, the charity said, stressing that the images could trigger seizures in which teeth and bones are broken and might even be fatal.

The messages included flashing strobe lighting and flickering psychedelic spirals. Some initially concealed their triggering imagery, making it more difficult to protect people vulnerable to their effects.

Clare Pelham, the chief executive of the Epilepsy Society, said such incidents had become more frequent, but that it was the first time they had been coordinated, in this case by a group of about six users.

“During the current Covid-19 pandemic, we are all having to live our lives online to protect ourselves from an invisible enemy,” she said. “It is unthinkable that people who hide behind fictitious Twitter handles are releasing their own digital viruses as some form of unimaginable entertainment.”

Twitter took down the posts and suspended the accounts concerned when the charity raised the alarm. The company is also looking at how it can better protect those whose epilepsy can be triggered by such images. It faces calls to ensure that users opt in to the automatic playing of gifs and videos, rather than opt out on the data usage tab of each device’s settings page, which some might find difficult to access.

One triggering gif, sent in response to a person with epilepsy celebrating 263 days without a seizure, included the caption: “Time to break the streak babe”. Hashtags such as #seizures and #epilepsy were also used alongside the gifs to target those looking for support.

One person told the charity on condition of anonymity: “I inadvertently viewed one of the posts and it triggered a simple partial seizure for me. This is not a joke. It is a physical assault on people struggling with epilepsy.”

Another who experienced a simple partial seizure said: “Thankfully the incident did not trigger a convulsive seizure, but I’m afraid it might have for others who saw the images.”

About 3% of people with epilepsy, or about 20,000 in the UK, are highly photosensitive, the charity said.

Thames Valley Police confirmed it was investigating the tweets as a hate incident under the Malicious Communications Act. It appeared to have been a deliberate attempt to cause harm to people who have epilepsy, the force said.

A spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said: “This was an awful incident in which people with epilepsy were targeted on social media on the basis of their difference, which we utterly condemn. We’re pleased an investigation is underway with Thames Valley police and would encourage anyone else affected to report to their local force.”

A Twitter spokesperson said: “We want people to feel safe on our service. We provide people on Twitter with the option of preventing media from autoplaying in their timelines, as well as prevent any gifs from appearing when someone searches for “seizure” in the gif search.

“Additionally, if Twitter determines accounts are dedicated to causing offline harm, they will be permanently suspended. We’re exploring additional options to help protect people on Twitter from this type of media.”