'No way to sugarcoat... difficult times ahead': Musk's first letter to Twitter staff

New York, Nov 10: Twitter owner Elon Musk in his first mail to workers has asked them to prepare for "difficult times ahead" and said that remote work will no longer be allowed to employees unless he personally approves of it.

Musk said employees will be expected to be in the office for at least 40 hours per week.

In the email, Elon Musk said there was "no way to sugarcoat the message" about the economic outlook and how it will affect an advertising-dependent company like Twitter, Bloomberg reported.

"The road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed," Elon Musk wrote in an email to employees.

"Over the next few days, the absolute top priority is finding and suspending any verified bots/trolls/spam," he said in a separate mail.

Ever since Elon Musk took over Twitter, the social media platform has witnessed a flurry of decisions that are keeping everyone on their toes.

There has been chaos in Twitter with nearly 3,800 employees being laid off so far. In India too, top executives have been sacked. When Musk took over Twitter last week, he had fired, CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde.

Musk had announced that Twitter would soon charge users USD 8 per month for a Twitter Blue subscription in order to keep their verified status and the blue check badges that come with it.

Musk had acquired Twitter last week in a $44 billion deal. The deal was however mired in controversy for several months, before the final takeover happened.