Have you ever thought of those flashing GIFs you post or repost on social media could be harmful to certain people? Yes, there are possibilities they could be. Twitter has found out that some users are bypassing the autoplay settings, and post animated images using the Animated PNG (APNG) file format to attack the others. The flashing images can actually cause people with photosensitive epilepsy to have seizures.
To prevent this from happening, Twitter announced on its support account saying that they have fixed the bug that lets you add multiple animated images. Users are also no longer allowed to post APNG files on the social media platform. It is to ensure the safety of people with sensitivity to motion and flashing imagery, including those with epilepsy.
We recently found a bug that lets you add multiple animated images to a Tweet using Animated PNG files. APNGs ignore our safeguards and can cause performance issues for the app and your device. Today we’re fixing the bug which will no longer allow APNGs to animate when Tweeted.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) December 23, 2019
In 2017, a Vanity Fair writer and contributing editor, Kurt Eichenwald, experienced an attack as he received several seizure-inducing strobe pictures on Twitter. He didn’t make it past the first one as he immediately suffered from seizure after looking at the picture. Later, the incident actually led to the arrest of the alleged attacker.
It is really shocking to realize some people would use this as a way to attack others. Epilepsy is said to be able to cause death to a person as well. Let us know what you think about this on our Facebook page. For more viral news, stay tuned to TechNave.com.
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