Vanity Fair and Newsweek writer and New York Times Bestselling author, Kurt Eichenwald just got ‘attacked’ by a user on Twitter. Eichenwald has 231,000 followers on Twitter and he is very well known for being a very outspoken critic of the US elected President, Donald Trump. Well being a critic comes with pros and cons and very often the cons are much greater with bigger consequences. Eichenwald just became a victim to this.
GIF attack on Kurt Eichenwald
Critics are often at risk of personal attacks and criticism but the attack made on Eichenwald is of a very unique nature. It took place on Twitter earlier and had a direct impact on his health. Eichenwald has an epilepsy condition and many are aware about this. An anonymous Twitter user created a GIF that was specially designed to trigger the epilepsy condition. The image was very flashy and had the words, 'You deserve a seizure for your posts' in it.
Not long after the tweet was received, Kurt’s wife tweeted that the writer had had a seizure. Later Eichenwald confirmed this episode in a series of tweets and said that he would be taking a break from Twitter and would most definitely be taking legal action against the ‘attacker’. The tweet has naturally shaken both Eichenwald and his wife as the tweet had worked and this can happen in the future as well. The police are currently investigating to see whether the attack is a federal crime or not as it crosses state boundaries.
Last night, for the second time, a deplorable aware I have epilepsy tweeted a strobe at me with the message "you deserve a seizure' on it...
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
What to do when this happens?
Stefano Seri of Aston University, a professor of clinical neurophysiology and developmental neuropsychiatry advised people who have epilepsy and worried about the attack. He said, "You should sit far enough from the stimulus so it doesn't fill your vision and watch in a sufficiently lit room so the impact of any flashes is lessened. In a well lit room your baseline is higher, so changes are less dramatic. Don't open attachments from people you don't know."
An attack using Twitter that can have potentially fatal consequences is pretty extreme. The phrase, ‘haters gonna hate’ is well known to critics but something like this is extremely sad as the ‘haters’ are willing to go to such extremes to stop people from expressing their views. It’s disturbing to see what low levels of tolerance can make people do.
About the author: Working at Wccftech since 2016, Zarmeen has a diverse set of skills. A Financial Analyst full-time and reporter of latest technology trends part time. She has covered various pieces on space, general sciences, mobile and deals during her time at Wccftech.
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