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Artist News
Sam Fender withdraws autoplaying Twitter video after it triggers seizures
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 4 July 2019
Sam Fender has withdrawn a video promoting new single ‘Will We Talk?’ after a fan posted a clip of herself having an epileptic seizure as a result of it.
Emily Linka seemingly saw the video inadvertently when it autoplayed in her Twitter feed. She later tweeted: “I have never shared a video of what my seizures look like publicly but this is what happens when artists like Sam Fender and Troye Sivan use autoplay strobes for promo”.
“Strobes are an aesthetic choice – they’re not essential”, she went on. “And when they’re used in autoplay promo videos, what artists are saying is that people like me aren’t welcome to be their fans. My options become muting or blocking artists that I love. And it sucks. I shouldn’t have to”.
Responding to the post, Fender said: “Really appreciate you flagging this, we had no idea and took down the video right away. We’re speaking with the wider team to make sure the music industry is aware and these kind of things don’t happen again”.
Troye Sivan has not yet commented on the tweet and the reference to his video in it. But an autoplaying promotional clip featuring strobes remained pinned to the top of his Twitter profile this morning.
