The microblogging site Twitter bans gifs or animated PNG (APNG) files after the recent attack on people with epilepsy after someone used the Epilepsy Foundation’s twitter handle and hashtags to post animated PNG files and videos which were said to be seizure inducing for some people with the condition.
It was said to be a bug that allowed these users post to several of these animated images in a single tweet using an animated PNG file format after being able to bypass its autoplay settings.
The company said in a tweet on Monday:
We want everyone to have a safe experience on Twitter,
PNGs were fun, but they don’t respect autoplay settings, so we’re removing the ability to add them to tweets. This is for the safety of people with sensitivity to motion and flashing imagery, including those with epilepsy.
According to the company these PNGs also used up too much data and sometimes caused app crashes.
The Epilepsy Foundation did file criminal complaints againts accounts which were involved in posting these PNGs and videos after the attack but it did not clarify how many people were affected by these attacks.
According to the world health organization, Epilepsy is a very common and serious brain disorder and can happen to anyone of any age. According to estimates over 3.4 million in the US alone are affected by this condition.
It is understandable why after the incident Twitter bans gifs and animated PNG (APNG)
You can read more about that incident in detail in our report.
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