Musk’s harsh new rule for Twitter staff

Mr Musk sent an email to his staff for the first time late on Wednesday, saying there was “no way to sugar-coat the message” about the economy and its impact on Twitter, which depends on ads, according to business news website Bloomberg, which reviewed the email.

The employees will be expected to be in the office for at least 40 hours a week, added the billionaire, who took over the platform in a US$44 billion (A$67bn) deal on October 27, reported the New York Post.

“The road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed,” Mr Musk wrote to his employees, Bloomberg reported.

In another email, the world’s richest man added that “over the next few days, the absolute top priority is finding and suspending any verified bots/trolls/spam.”

Mr Musk, who also is the CEO of car maker Tesla, told workers at the electric car maker in June that working remotely was no longer acceptable.

News about the end of working from home comes days after he announced that roughly half of Twitter’s staffers were being let go.

Mr Musk also is charging US$8 a month for the Twitter Blue subscription and its attached user verification.

The new boss said in the email that he wants to see subscriptions account for half of the platform’s revenue, according to the news outlet.

On Wednesday, Mr Musk sought to reassure big companies that advertise on Twitter that his chaotic takeover won’t harm their brands — acknowledging that some “dumb things” might happen on his way to creating what he says will be a better, safer user experience.

The latest erratic move on the minds of major advertisers was his decision to abolish a new “official” label on high-profile accounts just hours after introducing it.

Twitter began adding grey labels to prominent accounts, such as Coca-Cola, Nike and Apple, to indicate that they are authentic. A few hours later, the labels started disappearing.

“Apart from being an aesthetic nightmare when looking at the Twitter feed, it was simply another way of creating a two-class system,” Mr Musk told advertisers in an hour-long conversation broadcast live on Twitter.

Major brands including General Motors, United Airlines and General Mills have temporarily stopped buying ads on Twitter, as they watch whether Mr Musk’s plans to loosen its guardrails against hate speech will lead to a spike in online toxicity.

Mr Musk said he’s planning a “content moderation council” representing diverse viewpoints that will address inappropriate content and reassure advertisers, but it would take “a few months” to put together.

He added that it will be advisory and “not a command council.”

This story appeared in the New York Post and is reproduced with permission.