Epilepsy Society welcomes GIPHY’s prompt action to reduce online risk to people with epilepsy

The GIF library GIPHY have taken prompt action to reduce the risk for people with photosensitive epilepsy online, following Epilepsy Society’s concerns about harmful content in the library.

Epilepsy Society raised concerns with the GIF (animated image) library, whose GIFs are used on social media platforms including Instagram and Twitter. This was following the ongoing Twitter attacks where internet trolls are targeting people with epilepsy using flashing images with the deliberate intent to trigger a seizure. The charity’s social media team identified that certain GIFs used in the attacks were in the library, and flashing images appeared as results to many epilepsy-related search terms. 

A bespoke fast-track flashing image reporting line has been created for the charity to be able to work with them efficiently to locate malicious or harmful content. GIPHY have deleted GIFs within their library that Epilepsy Society identified are used frequently by the trolls.

Furthermore, GIPHY have introduced additional moderation practices to reduce the availability of harmful content in the library. Epilepsy Society will continue to work with GIPHY to introduce safeguarding measures for people with epilepsy.

The charity’s social media team have also raised concerns with the GIF library Tenor about similar issues.

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