Epilepsy charity defeats Twitter's 'irresponsible' flashing ads
-
Loading... - J. OLIVEIRA
- 12 Jul 2020
- 797 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
Twitter has removed two brightly flashing adverts from its site after being branded "irresponsible" by an epilepsy charity.
Two short Vine videos uploaded by the social media platform featured a rapid loop of brightly flashing colours, and remained online for 18 hours before they were taken down.
Simon Wigglesworth, deputy chief executive ofEpilepsy Action, called the ads "dangerous", warning that they could potentially trigger seizures in people living with photo-sensitive epilepsy.
"Eighty seven people are diagnosed with epilepsy every day and that first seizure can often come out of nowhere," he said in a statement. "For a huge corporation like Twitter to take that risk was irresponsible."
According to the charity, around one in 3,500 people in the UK has photo-sensitive epilepsy, which can cause seizures triggered by flashing lights, bright colours and bold patterns.
