Image copyright Twitter uk Image caption The looping ads flashed rapidly between bright colours 
 
 Twitter has responded to an epilepsy charity that said two of its online adverts were "irresponsible". 
 
 The social media giant had uploaded two short videos on Vine that featured a looping, rapid succession of flashing colours. 
 
 "Twitter's ads were dangerous to people living with photo-sensitive epilepsy," said Epilepsy Action's deputy chief executive, Simon Wigglesworth. 
 
 Twitter told the BBC it had removed the videos on Friday morning. 
 
 Around one in 3,500 people in the UK has photosensitive epilepsy, according to Epilepsy Action. Seizures can be triggered by flashing lights and bold patterns. 
 
 An episode of Japanese cartoon Pokemon was famously blamed for triggering convulsions in 1997. 
 
 'Irresponsible' 
 
 "Eighty seven people are diagnosed with epilepsy every day and that first seizure can often come out of nowhere," said Mr Wigglesworth. 
 
 "For a huge corporation like Twitter to take that risk was irresponsible." 
 
 The Advertising Standards Authority told the BBC that "marketing communications", even those uploaded on a company's own website, should not include "visual effects or techniques that are likely to adversely affect members of the public with photosensitive epilepsy". 
 
 It said both online and broadcast adverts in the UK had to adhere to rules made by the Committees of Advertising Practice. 
 
 "We take very seriously ads in online media that might cause harm to people with photosensitive epilepsy," an ASA spokeswoman told the BBC. 
 
 Twitter's flashing Vine videos were online for 18 hours before the company removed them. 
 
 Epilepsy Action said it was "pleased" that Twitter had replied to its messages and removed the posts. 
 
 Rachel Bremer, Twitter's international communications director, thanked the charity for highlighting the issue. 
 
 "We appreciate your feedback," she said on Twitter. 

 Social media company forced to remove two flashing vines for its #DiscoverMusic campaign after charity raises concerns 
 
 Twitter has been forced to pull two adverts using its Vine looping video platform after objections were raised by epilepsy campaigners. 
 
 The ads consisted of six seconds of flashing video, were “massively dangerous” to those with photosensitive epilepsy, according to charity Epilepsy Action. 
 
 Christopher Rowe (@KernowChris) @brucedaisley Please withdraw your photosensitive epilepsy inducung Discover Music twitter advert it's horrendous 
 
 Jesse Whittock (@TBI_Jesse) @TwitterUK Hi Twitter, not a great idea to trigger epilepsy episodes with your marketing. 
 
 Miss Christmas (@Miss_Christmas_) @TwitterUK I'm glad I didn't have epilepsy when this ad loaded and played its self upon opening Twitter !! 
 
 The videos were designed to advertise Twitter’s #DiscoverMusic campaign, aimed at attracting musicians to the social network, pitching it as a good way for artists to publicise their latest tracks. 
 
 The adverts were online for 18 hours before being pulled Friday morning. 
 
 According to Advertising Standards Agency regulations, marketing messages, even those advertising features of the operator’s website, must not include visual effects that could affect those with photosensitive epilepsy. 
 
 Twitter declined to comment. 
 
 
 
 Epilepsy Action’s deputy chief executive, Simon Wigglesworth, told the BBC that: “Twitter’s ads were dangerous to people living with photosensitive epilepsy.” 
 
 “87 people are diagnosed with epilepsy every day and that first seizure can often come out of nowhere. For a huge corporation like Twitter to take that risk was irresponsible.” 
 
 Users affected by flashing videos can turn off Twitter’s autoplay feature within the app, to avoid them playing without being tapped on. 
 
 • Welcome to Jun, the town that ditched bureaucracy to run on Twitter 

 Twitter thought the bright flashes of two short videos it posted via Vine would attract viewers. An epilepsy support group in Britain thought the flickers would cause seizures. 
 
 “Your #DiscoverMusic Vines are massively dangerous to people with photosensitive epilepsy. Please take them offline now,” Epilepsy Action tweeted Friday. 
 
 Less than an hour later, a Twitter representative responded that the company had done just that. 
 
 "For a huge corporation like Twitter to take that risk was irresponsible," Epilepsy Action’s deputy chief executive, Simon Wigglesworth, told the BBC. "That first seizure can often come out of nowhere," he added. 
 
 Epilepsy Action, a charity organization based in Leeds, Britain, could not be reached. 
 
 Joseph Sirven, editor-in-chief of the Epilepsy Foundation’s website and chairman of the neurology department at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, noted that the incident points to a long history of video-oriented industries learning to keep content safe, often by providing warnings on packaging or promotions for flashing content. 
 
 “Before it was about TV. Next was computers, next was video games and next is phone,” Sirven said. As apps, animations and videos flood through mobile devices, unanswered questions include: How do you safely broadcast on a phone or tablet? 
 
 About 3% of people with epilepsy can suffer seizures from exposure to quickly changing visual patterns such as flashing lights, according to the Epilepsy Foundation. 
 
 Twitter’s videos, which can no longer be viewed online, apparently promoted Twitter’s #DiscoverMusic campaign. Created with the video app Vine, they played quickly changing colors in a loop. 
 
 Twitter and Vine did not respond to requests for comment, and it was unclear if they have policies in place to screen content for material that could harm photosensitive people. 
 
 Epilepsy Action raised concerns over flickering video content in 2012, when people said they suffered seizures from an Olympics TV promotion that featured a logo that rippled with colors. The promoters agreed to edit the piece. 
 
 In 1997, an episode of animated Japanese TV program Pokemon that blared red strobe lights reportedly caused hundreds of viewers in Japan to suffer seizures. 
 
 Twitter: @dainabethcita
– Twitter pulled two looping videos it posted via Vine for an unusual reason—concern they might trigger seizures. It doesn't appear they actually did, but Twitter acted after an epilepsy organization raised concerns about the ads, which contained six seconds of bright flashes, reports the Guardian. "Eighty-seven people are diagnosed with epilepsy every day and that first seizure can often come out of nowhere," an executive with a support group in Britain tells the BBC. "For a huge corporation like Twitter to take that risk was irresponsible." The ads, for Twitter's DiscoverMusic campaign, were up about 18 hours before a company official responded to the group's request and deleted them yesterday. About 3% of people with epilepsy are vulnerable to seizures if they see certain visual patterns, including flashing lights, reports the Los Angeles Times, citing a high-profile case in 1997 in which a Pokemon episode reportedly triggered scores of seizures. Another involved an Olympics TV spot in 2012 with a rippling logo. “Before it was about TV," the chair of Mayo Clinic's neurology department tells the newspaper. "Next was computers, next was video games, and next is phone." For those who want to block videos on Twitter from playing automatically, the Consumerist provides a how-to here. (An epileptic skydiver had a seizure at the worst possible moment.)