Twitter bans PNG files following attack on Epilepsy Foundation’s account

Twitter is banning animated PNG files, also known as APNGs, from its platform following an attack on the Epilepsy Foundation’s account.

An attacker sent out animated images from the foundation’s account, which could have potentially caused seizures in photosensitive people. The animated images included strobing light effects.

We want everyone to have a safe experience on Twitter.

APNGs 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. https://t.co/Suogtrop1u

— Twitter Accessibility (@TwitterA11y) December 23, 2019

The social media giant found a bug that allowed users to bypass the autoplay settings and add several animated images in a single tweet.

Existing tweets that have APNG images won’t be deleted from Twitter, but going forward only GIFs will be allowed. GIFs are allowed because they follow the autoplay settings and won’t play if someone has turned this setting off.

Source: Twitter Via: The Verge