Trolls attack boy with epilepsy, 8, by sending him hundreds of flashing images

An eight-year-old fundraiser with epilepsy was targeted by malicious trolls online who sent him hundreds of flashing images.

The Epilepsy Society, a charity which works for people affected by the illness in the UK, said it is the worst attack they have ever experienced with hundreds of flashing images being targeted at their account.

It was after Claire Keer, mum of Zach Eagling, shared tweets asking for support for her son’s fundraising efforts.

Claire, from Liversedge in West Yorkshire, said: ‘My son Zach has cerebral palsy and epilepsy. He turns nine on June 16, and he wanted to raise money for the Epilepsy Society by walking like Tom Moore.

‘He’s only recently managed to do any independent walking because of his disability, so we found the 2.6 challenge and decided he should try to walk 2.6km before his birthday and try to raise £260.

‘He smashed that target within an hour so we gradually increased it. I tweeted our updates to the Epilepsy Society who happily shared them for us. Then I was told that my tweets had been targeted by accounts posting strobing gifs to try and trigger seizures.

‘Luckily then I didn’t see them – but the following day I did. The charity had been hit hundreds of times overnight and it was getting Twitter to take them down.

‘The images were frightening and with strobe effects. I could not believe that people would target us in this vicious manner. It is absolutely disgusting.

‘But it won’t stop us. We don’t tolerate bullying in the street and we won’t tolerate it online. These people are petty, ignorant and small minded. I hope that they are brought to account for their actions.’

Several Twitter followers reported having seizures as a result of the malicious posts.

One user said: ‘I inadvertently viewed one of the posts and it triggered a simple partial seizure for me. This is not a joke. It is a physical assault on people struggling with epilepsy.’

It is not the first time the epilepsy charity has been maliciously attacked on Twitter, with posts tagged with key words around epilepsy to deliberately target those with the condition and induce a seizure.

Clare Pelham, chief executive at the Epilepsy Society, said the number of incidents had been increasing but this was the first time they had been targeted by a coordinated group whose sole purpose was to cause harm.

‘We have had in excess of 200 posts sent to us, all of them vile. They are targeting disabled people with photosensitive epilepsy and the worst thing is that they are intended to cause actual physical harm,’ she said.

‘Seizures are not benign events. At best they can leave people with facial injuries, broken teeth and broken bones; at worst they can be fatal.

‘During the current Covid-19 pandemic, we are all having to live our lives online to protect ourselves from an invisible enemy. It is unthinkable that people who hide behind fictitious Twitter handles, are releasing their own digital virus as some form of unimaginable entertainment.’

The posts have been reported to the police and Twitter has taken down or suspended the violating tweets and accounts.

Twitter has also met with Epilepsy Society to discuss the long-term regulations of using flashing imagery on the platform.

The Epilepsy Society has been running a campaign to persuade the government to include regulatory measures in its Online Harms Bill, to protect people with photosensitive epilepsy from malicious content on social media. It hopes to call it Zach’s Law.

Clare Pelham continued: ‘This attack illustrates why social media must be regulated in the same way that broadcasting media is regulated by Ofcom.

‘Perpetrators of these attacks must be brought within the reach of criminal law and prosecuted. They are criminal gangs just as surely as if they walked the streets of Manchester or London.

‘We have written to Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and we will continue to raise this issue in Parliament. The Online Harms Bill should address these issues and keep us all safe online.

‘We may be able to protect ourselves from Covid-19 by staying two metres apart, but there is no digital social distancing or personal protective equipment that can protect people with epilepsy from harm online. And there absolutely must be.’

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