Twitter pulls brightly Flashing Vine ad after complaint from epilepsy charity

An epilepsy charity raised a concern that a brightly flashing Vine ad on Twitter could lead to produce seizures in people who have photo-sensitive epilepsy. The concern has been sorted out by Twitter and it has withdrawn the advertisement.

Epilepsy Action complained about the DiscoverMusic campaign, which aims to encourage artists, and has a six-second clip showing bright, flashing colors. The charity said the bright colors in the advertisement could be harmful for certain group of epilepsy patients.

Twitter has a great online presence. Its ad could lead to a serious problem, said the charity, which shared that flashing bright lights or patterns have been found to be common trigger of seizure attack. Before being pulled down, the ad has run for 18 hours.

On Friday morning, the ad was withdrawn. "Marketing communications should not include visual effects or techniques that are likely to adversely affect members of the public with photosensitive epilepsy", affirmed Advertising Standards Authority.

Epilepsy Action's deputy chief executive, Simon Wigglesworth, said the ad could have been a risk for people living with photo-sensitive epilepsy. Epilepsy is a condition that leads to seizures when cell activity in patient gets disputed by unusual lighting patterns.

The problem can take place to anybody, said Mayo Clinic research. One in 26 Americans are prone to develop this disorder. Charity Epilepsy Action said they contacted Twitter and explained them the concern and also asked to take it offline. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) also termed it to be a serious issue.