TikTok rolls out its Photosensitivity Feature for people with Epilepsy 

TikTok, the social media giant, has moved to create a new mission for inclusivity. This time, the company wants to focus on making the app more accessible for people with photosensitive epilepsy.

“For people with photosensitive epilepsy, exposure to flashing lights at certain intensities or to certain visual patterns can trigger seizures. While the population of those with photosensitive epilepsy is small, the impact can be quite serious,” said Laura Thrall, president and CEO of the Epilepsy Foundation. 

Over the past few months, the TikTok team met with epilepsy advocates who shared feedback on how they can improve the platform. Based on the data they have gathered, the brand launched a feature that warns creators when they upload content that could trigger photosensitive epilepsy. In the coming weeks, the team will also be introducing another accessibility feature to protect users from photosensitive content. With this new feature, viewers who have come across a photosensitive video will get a notification allowing them to “Skip All” future photosensitive content.

“It is great to see TikTok addressing this issue by making changes to their platform so that people in our epilepsy community can feel protected when viewing content on TikTok. We are proud to have worked with TikTok on this initiative and truly appreciate our continued collaboration,” said Thrall.