Newsweek reporter claims Twitter trolls are triggering his seizures by tweeting strobe lights at him
Newsweek reporter Kurt Eichenwald, who has written many critical stories about President-elect Donald Trump since last month's presidential election, is now claiming that people on Twitter are triggering his epilepsy by sending him tweets containing GIFs of strobe lights. For people with epilepsy, strobe lights can cause seizures.
Eichenwald spoke to George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday, and mentioned how a Twitter user late last week sent him a "multi-colored strobe that was going at a speed that was designed to cause a seizure, and it succeeded."
That tweet, sent by a Twitter user with the handle "@jew_goldstein" (which has since been suspended), featured the strobing GIF with text on top of it that read, "You deserve a seizure for your posts." Eichenwald said his wife responded to the tweet and photographed it for evidence of what happened.
Eichenwald claims other Twitter users have caught on, and are also sending him strobes through the social network.
"I can't look at my Twitter feed anymore," Eichenwald said on GMA. "Apparently a lot of people find this very funny. A lot of people who identify themselves as Trump supporters are loading up my feed with more strobes."
Eichenwald claims he is working with Twitter and pursuing legal action against people sending him strobes. And on Tuesday, Eichenwald took to Twitter once more to warn trolls to back off.
We reached out to Newsweek and Twitter for more information. You can watch Eichenwald's segment on "Good Morning America" below.