Mystery Wikipedia User ‘Sk-Gorka’ Edits Articles About WH Aide Sebastian Gorka

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A mysterious Wikipedia user with the pseudonym “Sk-Gorka” has made edits to the site’s pages about White House aide Sebastian Gorka and his wife, Katharine Gorka.

Edits made by “Sk-Gorka” have been limited to the Wikipedia pages of Gorka and his wife, as first flagged by CNN. Those changes mostly involve the addition of material and citations.

The most recent edit by “Sk-Gorka,” however, moved a section about a gun charge Gorka faced for bringing a handgun through security at a Washington, D.C. airport. A judge dismissed the charge in February.

“Sk-Gorka” described the edit, which moved that text to the bottom of the page on Nov. 21, 2016, as: “Clarified allegations that were added.”

Among those changes, “Sk-Gorka” wrote: “He accidentally brought the wrong bag to the airport and didn’t realize his gun was in it. In 2015, TSA discovered 2,653 firearms in carry-on bags at airport checkpoints across the country, the majority of whom cite as a reason that they forgot their gun was in the bag.”

“Sk-Gorka” also removed a sentence noting that the charges could result in a sentence of “up to one year in prison.”

The section was removed entirely on Feb. 27, 2017, by an editor with a different username.

Neither Gorka nor the White House immediately responded to TPM’s requests for comment.

An editor’s note at the top of Wikipedia’s page on Sebastian Gorka notes that the article’s neutrality “is disputed.”

“Individuals with a conflict of interest, particularly those representing the subject of the article, are strongly advised not to edit the article,” reads a note on the article’s talk page, used by editors to discuss changes.

Another note lists “Sk-Gorka” as a contributor who “may be personally or professionally connected to the subject of the article” and whose editing is therefore “strongly discouraged” under Wikipedia’s conflict of interest guidelines.

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