Brianna Wu has been a public figure for roughly four years now. You may remember her particularly from the colossal Gamergate mess in 2014. Gamergate, a dangerous harassment campaign focused on women in the video game industry, was a trying time for the gaming community. It had a ripple effect both inside the industry and out, as many game and tech companies began paying more attention to diversity and inclusion, while online harassment became a larger issue in political circles.
Back then, Ms. Wu was purely a game developer. She co-founded a company called Giant Spacekat and headed the development of Revolution 60, a mobile game noted for its all-female cast of characters. In 2014 she went so far as to fight back against Gamergate, criticizing the controversy over Twitter. Almost immediately, her personal information (including home address) was released and she began receiving horrific death and rape threats. Multiple threats were so specific, and graphic, that Ms. Wu was subsequently forced to flee her home over safety concerns. Now, she’s using this harrowing experience—and her tech industry knowledge—to fuel a run for Congress in the 2018 midterm elections.