Twitter’s latest meme sees users take advantage of alt text to try to be funny – but the joke has been widely criticised for misusing an accessibility feature.
The alt text meme sees users share a white screen with text that says “click here” and an arrow pointing to the alt text feature in the corner of the screen.
When users click the alt text button, a joke or a message will appear.
Brands like McDonald’s and Red Bull even jumped on the trend.
However, the joke has been criticised for misusing an accessibility feature used by blind and visually impaired people.
Optician chain Specsavers responded to the meme by using alt text in their own image, which said: “The image says ‘click here’ with an arrow pointing to the ALT description tag in the bottom left corner.
“Side note for everybody: Many Twitter users, including brands, have been using this to prompt people to open the ALT text, where they have left a joke.
“ALT text is a hugely important accessibility tool designed to help people navigate the internet more easily, so it shouldn’t be used as a punchline. This is especially true if the ALT text doesn’t describe the image, leaving blind and visually impaired people out of the joke.”
— Specsavers (@Specsavers) May 2, 2023
Alt text’s intended use is to describe to blind and visually impaired people what an image depicts, with the use of a screen reader.
A screen reader will read out a webpage’s contents, and when it gets to the image, it reads out the alt text, if it’s been added.
Twitter’s own description of alt text tells users: “You can add a description, sometimes called alt text, to your photos so they’re accessible to even more people, including people who are blind or have low vision.
“Good descriptions are concise, but present what’s in your photos accurately enough to understand their context.”
