Man arrested for sending seizure-inducing tweet to journalist with epilepsy (Getty)

A man has been arrested for allegedly sending a seizure-inducing tweet to a journalist he knew had epilepsy.

FBI agents in Dallas have detained John Rivello, 29, on suspicion of sending the strobe-like tweet to epileptic Newsweek journalist Kurt Eichenwald – causing him to suffer a seizure.

Eichenwald, 55, has previously written about being epileptic, and claimed late last year that someone had sent him the flashing GIF with the express intention of inducing a seizure.

The journalist, who also contributes to Vanity Fair and MSNBC and is a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, celebrated the arrest on Friday morning.


After a 3 month investigation, the FBI this morning arrested the man who assaulted me using a strobe on twitter that triggered a seizure. — Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 17, 2017

He added that Rivello will now face federal charges in the incident.



The Twitter account, which apparently used the handle @jew_goldstein, had already been suspended on the site.

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Eichenwald said he received the potentially life-threatening message after he appeared on the Fox News segment ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ in December, on which he argued with the host about political biases.

He claimed the troll – whom he suspects is motivated by politics – sent him a video of flashing lights with the message, ‘you deserve a seizure’.

The message ended up triggering an epileptic episode, according to the Dallas Morning News.

More than 40 ppl sent strobes once they found out they could trigger seizures. Details of their cases are with the FBI. Stop sending them. — Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 17, 2017

Later, Eichenwald’s wife replied to the troll telling him that the GIF had indeed caused an episode and that she’d notified the police.

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Since the arrest, some 40 or so trolls have bombarded Eichenwald with flashing GIFs – prompting him to tweet begging them to stop.

His lawyer, Steven Lieberman, said sending the GIF was worse than other forms of cyberbullying, because it was comparable to sending an explosive in the post.

‘This elctronic message was no different than a bomb sent in the mail or anthrax sent in an envelope,’ he told the New York Times. ‘It triggers a physical effect.’