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SAN FRANCISCO — After Brianna Wu, a software engineer and game developer, faced severe threats on Twitter in 2014, “game gate” worked with the company to develop tools to eradicate misogyny, violence, and disinformation online.

Worried that all this could be undone by Twitter’s new owner today: Elon Musk, the world’s richest man Agreed to buy Twitter about $44 billion this week.

Mr. Musk’s promise to protect freedom of expression while “unlocking” the company’s potential has in some cases caused alarm among those who have dedicated their careers to tackling the toxic and at times dangerous flow of misinformation and disinformation.

Their exact plans remain unclear, but they refer to a record of provocative, at times derogatory remarks on Twitter, along with a promise to remove barriers to freedom of expression. call A British diver, a pedophile, who participated in the 2018 rescue of children trapped in a cave in Thailand.

“I think this will be an incremental freebie for everyone,” Ms. Wu said in a phone call.

For Media Matters for America, the liberal-leaning research organization, reasons for concern can be found at: celebration reactions From the people that Twitter deleted from the platform for violating the code of conduct.

These include prominent conservative figures such as Steve Bannon and Representative Marjorie Taylor Green; publisher Infowars; and even a QAnon figure named “Clandestine” who helped spread Russian conspiracy theory About the American bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine.

Musk, as the sole owner of Twitter, will have the power to nullify many of the efforts that have made the company a pioneer of social media companies when it comes to restricting harmful or hateful content, said Angelo Carusone, head of Media Matters for America. abuses.

In a tweet, he compared Mr Musk’s takeover with the launch of Fox News to strike a balance against what founders Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes see as “liberal media”.

Although smaller than other platforms – with 217 million daily users compared to the billions on Facebook and Instagram – Twitter’s moderation efforts set an example that campaigners like Mr. Carusone can cite as campaigners like Carusone urge other companies to do more to rein in dangerous misinformation.

“Do I think Elon Musk will be a pioneer in solving the problems of disinformation and rising extremism? No, I just don’t think so,” he said, adding, “There is very strong evidence that there will be a dilution of Twitter’s policies.”

Mr. Musk’s wealth and fame – he’s also behind Tesla and SpaceX – will give him a powerful tyrant in the heated debate over the limits of free speech, which he called “the cornerstone of a functioning democracy” on Monday. buy.

It may also face financial and political constraints. New law from the European Union require social media platforms to keep their sites free of misinformation and abuse. This may alleviate some of the “sky is falling” fears about his takeover.

At least one idea publicly making the algorithms the company has designed reflects ideas put forward by people in favor of reducing harmful content.

Most notably among these is former President Barack Obama, who took office last week. summed up a vision To combat disinformation at a conference at Stanford University that included further scrutiny and regulation of algorithms.

“The real problem,” said Rachel Goodman, adviser to Protect Democracy, a nonprofit, “is that the future of how we share knowledge, advance, and discuss key issues of our democracy should not depend on whether or not a single person is in control. is a superhero or a super-villain.”