Twitter Pulls Ad After Complaints That It Could Trigger Epileptic Episodes
Autoplay videos and Vines in your Twitter feed are pretty annoying. But one autoplaying Vine for Twitter’s own #DiscoverMusic hashtag had to be pulled because it could have proved more than simply bothersome for people with photosensitive epilepsy.
The looping Vine featured flashing colors that, according to the British Epilepsy Association, could trigger epileptic episodes in individuals with the disorder.
In an interview with the BBC, deputy chief executive of Epilepsy Action (the charity arm of the British Epilepsy Association) Simon Wigglesworth said that the ads were “dangerous to people living with photosensitive epilepsy.
“For a huge corporation like Twitter to take that risk was irresponsible,” he added.
The issue came to light when Epilepsy Action’s Twitter account spotted the offending Vine and tweeted about it:
.@TwitterUK Your #DiscoverMusic Vines are massively dangerous to people with photosensitive epilepsy. Please take them offline now.
— Epilepsy Action (@epilepsyaction)
To Twitter’s credit, its international communications director, Rachel Bremer, responded to Epilepsy Action’s tweet in less than an hour, telling the organization that the Discover Music Vines had been deleted.
The incident is a reminder, as the BBC pointed out, of the time when an episode of the Pokémon TV show had to be pulled because it caused children watching it to have epileptic episodes.
If you don’t like Twitter’s autoplaying videos, you can check out our handy guide explaining how to disable them. It shouldn’t take more than a minute to change those settings, and even if you don’t have epilepsy, you’ll benefit from not having to see all those annoying Vines your friends post from their night out.
No one wants to see 50 Vines of you doing shots at a bar, Greg. And put your shirt back on!
Via: The BBC
Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley or on Google+.
