Getty/Rick T. Wilking
Amazon has employed workers from its "fulfilment centres" to tweet positively about working conditions.
- A small army of Amazon employees are tweeting nice things about the working conditions in the company's warehouses.
- The Twitter accounts have a standardised format, all bearing the Amazon smile logo as their background.
- Amazon says these employees are called "FC Ambassadors" who have experience working in the fulfilment centres.
- It follows a series of horror stories about working conditions, including staff having to pee in bottles because of their targets.
A small army of accounts have popped up on Twitter to tweet positive things about Amazon's warehouse working conditions.
TechCrunch discovered 15 accounts all following a standardised format after Twitter users Flamboyant Shoes Guy drew attention to them.
TechCrunch found that all the accounts bore the Amazon smile logo as backgrounds, and had identical structures to their bios and the title "FC Ambassador" in their name, followed by a cardboard box emoji.
The accounts engage with people about the working conditions in Amazon's fulfilment centres, weighing in when people tweet negatively about the company to praise its working conditions.
But while Flamboyant Shoes Guy thought these accounts were bots posing as Amazon workers, the company has confirmed that the FC ambassadors are real people, being paid to spread the firm's message.
"FC ambassadors are employees who have experience working in our fulfilment centers. The most important thing is that they've been here long enough to honestly share the facts based on personal experience," an Amazon spokesman told Business Insider.
"It's important that we do a good job of educating people about the actual environment inside our fulfillment centers, and the FC ambassador program is a big part of that along with the fulfilment center tours we provide."
Looking through the ambassador accounts, Business Insider found they had all joined in August. Business Insider has contacted Amazon to ask just how recently this position was created, how many ambassadors it employs, and what criteria a warehouse worker has to fill to qualify for the role.
Amazon has frequently come under fire for the working conditions in its fulfilment centres this year. An undercover journalist in the UK said that staff "peed in bottles" for fear that walking to the bathroom would cause them to miss targets. Business Insider's Shona Ghosh heard one story of a urine smell wafting from a trash can for similar reasons, while constant surveillance and health issues at work were also highlighted.
But Amazon's new propaganda push against its warehouse image seems to have unnerved some Twitter users:
So Amaz*n has set up an army of bot accounts, allegedly from workers at various fulfillment centers, whose sole purpose is to jump on tweets critical of their benevolent overlord with the same stale cant about great pay & benefits pic.twitter.com/Z7lJWUb7A0
- FLAMBOYANT SHOES GUY 👟👞🌴🍍🥥🌹🌵 (@bornwithatail_) August 23, 2018Hello! Amazon does pay their employees minimum wage - any less would be illegal 😀 One thing that often gets overlooked are the employee benefits that Amazon provides for all employees - Health insurance, 401K, career/financial counseling.
- Phil - Amazon FC Ambassador 📦 (@AmazonFCPhil) August 10, 2018Did you know that Amazon pays warehouse workers 30% more than other retailers? I feel proud to work for Amazon - they've taken good care of me. Much better than some of my previous employers.
- Shaye - Amazon FC Ambassador 📦 (@AmazonFCShaye) August 21, 2018Working conditions at my JAX2 FC are great. Temp controlled warehouse, safety is the priority and we just want to get your packages out on time.
- Leo - Amazon FC Ambassador 📦 (@AmazonFCLeo) August 23, 2018Argh this is kinda creepy, it was a random tweet to test the speed of the new "Amazon FC Ambassador" accounts thing that have been popping up on twitter.
Isn't it kind of Orwellian to have people seaching for amazon work conditions to try and change the public opinion about it?
- Tipo de incógnito (@S_de_Incognito) August 24, 2018It reads just like excerpts from the Human Resources and safety manuals.
Person: How's your job?
Amazon FC Ambassador: It's very well lit, thanks for asking.
- Madame Lehner (@frauslehner) August 23, 2018This is very creepy
- Mikee (@Lambman24) August 23, 2018