I'm with you 100%. When I see an animated gif, it likens the article to clickbait or those 'my reaction when' pages. I'm here to read news, not watch funny images that appeal to to the lowest common denominator.

Absolutely right. Bikers have flashing lights on at night because it's one of the strongest attention-grabbing effects on humans, in addition to motion. This animated GIF has elements of both.

If you were an author, you wouldn't include an automatic strobe light strip on each page of your book would you? Again, a lack of empathy for the reader is the problem here.