【Watch Games of Seduction Online】

A tweet has led to an arrest -- three months after it was sent.

Back on Watch Games of Seduction OnlineDec. 15, Vanity Faircontributing editor and Newsweeksenior writer Kurt Eichenwald shared that someone had targeted him with a strobing tweet. The flashing tweet, sent by a Twitter user going by the handle @jew_goldstein, gave the journalist a seizure. He is a known epileptic and Eichenwald believed he had been targeted for his political views.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

After the harrowing Twitter experience, he posted he was taking a breather from the platform and pursuing legal action against the violent tweeter.

Fast-forward a few months and on Friday morning Eichenwald posted (on Twitter, where he returned earlier this year) that the FBI had arrested the person believed to be behind the @jew_goldstein Twitter account.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

A call to Eichenwald's attorney Steven Lieberman on Friday morning confirmed that a man was arrested in Maryland on Friday morning in connection with the strobing tweet. An FBI spokeswoman also confirmed the arrest.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

The accused is 29-year-old John Rivello, the Department of Justice said in a statement on Friday evening, and he has been charged with cyberstalking Eichenwald. It's alleged Rivello sent the strobing GIF with the words "You deserve a seizure for your post."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Rivello, according to the allegations, had been messaging other Twitter users sharing his knowledge of Eichenwald's epilepsy and with statements such as "I hope this sends him into a seizure" and "spammed this at [victim] let's see if he dies."

Rivello's iCloud account is also being used as evidence, as it allegedly contained a screenshot of a Wikipedia page for Eichenwald, which had been altered to include a date of death as Dec. 16, 2016. The account also had screenshots from epilepsy.com that showed triggers for seizures and screenshots of Eichenwald's report to the police.

Following the arrest on Friday, Eichenwald went on a Twitter spree with claims the tweeter is just one person in a group of 40 people who sent strobes with the intention of triggering seizures. "Stop sending them," he pleaded.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

UPDATE: March 17, 2017, 8:46 p.m. EDT The Department of Justice released details regarding the identity of the suspect.

---

Featured Video For You

---

NASA designed grippers that can lift celestial rocks in microgravity

---

Topics Social Media X/Twitter

• Tech
• Deals
• Social Good
• Science
• Life
• Games
• Shopping
• Digital Culture

• 'The Last of Us' Season 2, episode 5: The spores are here!
• Here are the places on coronavirus lockdown so far
• How Italy is fighting its coronavirus isolation with music
• Australians are poking fun at how Tom Hanks eats his quarantine Vegemite
• The 10 Most Anticipated PC Games of 2016
• NBA's Kevin Love donates $100,000 to Cavaliers staff over coronavirus
• Americans are hitting bars and bragging about not social distancing
• Trump's coronavirus advice is literally the opposite of what he's doing
• Amazon Pet Day: All the best deals
• How to do mantra meditation, and why TikTok is getting it wrong

• Five Complaints About Poetry
• Looking at “Evidence,” One of the ’70’s Most Influential Photo Books
• You, Too, Can Be T. S. Eliot’s Child. Just Give It a Try.
• 'The Marvels' teases a Young Avengers team
• Rules for Consciousness in Mammals: On Clarice Lispector
• Lolita Fashion: Japanese Street Fashion and Cute Culture
• Best deals of the day Nov. 22: the all
• Francesco Pacifico on American Morality and His New Novel, “Class”
• Best speaker deal: Sony SRS
• Tinder's Year in Swipe identifies 'situationships' as a valid relationship status

• Watch how an old Venus spacecraft tumbled before crashing to Earth
• Google makes more Fitbit health data free to non
• Quarantined congressman's bizarre tweet on life and death is now a meme
• Google AI features for Gmail and Docs up the ante against Microsoft
• Google Pixel Buds Pro 2: $40 off at Amazon
• Quarantined congressman's bizarre tweet on life and death is now a meme
• The pitfalls of being Too Online during the coronavirus
• Costco reportedly stops handing out free samples in some stores due to coronavirus
• No Time for a Negative Peace
• Wordle today: Here's the answer, hints for March 14

• Fyre Festival and Trump’s Language
• Tom Hanks is not really quarantined with Wilson, the ball from 'Cast Away'
• So, nobody told these 'Big Brother' housemates about the coronavirus outbreak
• Free Speech Coalition calls for porn productions to shut down amid coronavirus
• Best portable power station deal: Save $179.01 on the EcoFlow River 2 Max
• How 'The Last of Us' successfully translates the game's best mechanics to TV
• 'The Office' fans imagine what it would look like if coronavirus hit Dunder Mifflin
• Amazon Ring hacked? Ring denies it as hackers threaten to release data
• Boeing's new VR simulator immerses astronauts in space training
• Wordle today: Here's the answer, hints for March 16