Twitter employees will learn this afternoon Australian time whether they are included in mass layoffs revealed at the social media company.

In an email sent on Friday morning (AEST), staff were informed the company – newly acquired by Elon Musk – would begin the process of layoffs.

“In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday,” the email, said, according to news agencies that have viewed it.

Twitter said in the email that its offices would be temporarily closed and access will be suspended in order “to help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data.”

Twitter acknowledged that the layoffs would be “an incredibly challenging experience to go through” for its workers.

The leak of the email comes after reports that Mr Musk planned to lay off up to half of Twitter’s staff after buying the company for US$44 billion last week.

Mr Musk fired CEO Parag Agrawal and two other executives almost immediately after taking over the business.

The Washington Post reported that few areas of the Twitter business are expected be safe from the layoffs, with the downsizing to affect positions in the “sales, trust and safety, marketing, product, engineering and legal teams”.

-with agencies