A Democratic candidate for the 45th Congressional District tonight hosts the founder of Wikipedia “for a discussion on how to fight fake news in a digital age,” according to the campaign.
Brian Forde, a Lake Forest technology entrepreneur who previously served as a senior White House adviser to President Barack Obama, will be joined at the Irvine event by Jimmy Wales, whose newest venture, WikiTribune, is a journalistic service designed to help fight fake news.
“Innovation and technological advancements are producing both unprecedented progress and serious risks,” explains Forde, who has called fake news an “epidemic.” “From fake news and hacking to autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence, our personal information, civil rights, jobs and our democracy are being heavily impacted by technology. We must anticipate and consider the impacts on society and craft smart legislation to better protect the the American people.”
Forde is seeking the seat currently held by Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine). Besides those two, vying to represent the 45th are Independent John Graham and Democrats Kia Hamadanchy, Greg Ramsay, Eric Rywalski, Ron Varasteh and UC Irvine professors Dave Min and Katie Porter.
The chat with Wales starts at 7 tonight in The Eureka Building, 1621 Alton Pkwy., Irvine.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.