Trolling can kill... or at least cause a seizure.
That is what Kurt Eichenwald claims in a lawsuit against a Twitter user who sent him a GIF that supposedly could cause a seizure.
Eichenwald, a journalist who currently writes for "Vanity Fair" and "Newsweek", has sued a Twitter user with the handle @jew_goldstein for causing an epileptic seizure. Eichenwald is an epileptic, a fact known to many and probably to the Twitter user, as well.
Eichenwald's wife replied to the suspect's Twitter post after her husband suffered a seizure upon seeing the GIF.
"This is his wife, you caused a seizure. I have your information and have called the police to report the assault."
The GIF is seen by Engadget as a "weaponized tweet" aimed at Eichenwald, a staunch critic of president-elect Donald Trump. The "vanity Fair" editor went live on Fox News in a face-off with Tucker Carlson. At the beginning f the 'duel', Carlson indicated that he will "grill Eichenwald about some of the things he's tweeted that he didn;t think reflected well on him and his publication". The "Newsweek" senior writer, on the other hand, was ready to expose what he called Trucker Carlson Falsehoods, which he put into writing and in a binder.
Carlson questioned Eichenwald about his tweet that claimed Trump was institutionalized in a mental hospital back in 1990. The "Fox News" host called Eichenwald out for "lazy and inaccurate" reporting but when the journalist tried to explain his tweet, Carlson kept interrupting. This led Eichenwald to ask him, "would you like me to answer the question or not?" and to claim that Carlson was "not fooling anybody, [trying] to stop me from giving the answer".
Eichenwald went on a rant on Twitter after the interview but he later deleted most of them. His rant and his anti-Trump views have garnered him some haters probably including the person behind the GIF attack.
Because of the seizure attack, Eichenwald is taking a break from Twitter.
This is not the first time that a well-known person sued a troll. In 2015, actor James Woods filed a $10 million defamation suit against a Twitter user, Abe List, who claimed that he was a "cocaine addict".
