Twitter suspends ‘fake’ Amazon worker accounts that rushed to defend company online

Twitter suspended several fake accounts this week which were defending and praising Amazon through a series of anti-union tweets. 

Twitter said it suspended at least four handles that identified themselves as Amazon employees because of misleading information about the account holders. Amazon confirmed that at least one was fake.

This comes as votes are being counted to determine if workers in Alabama will form the first-ever labour union at an Amazon warehouse in the US.

Questions were raised about the accounts after tech website Gizmodo reported that at least one of the accounts was using a fake profile photo that appeared to have been computer generated. 

Many of the accounts had the handle @AmazonFC and a first name, according to BBC. This handle was previously used by Amazon for real employees who were allegedly paid to defend the company on Twitter.

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Amazon said it has asked Twitter to investigate.

“Many of these are not Amazon FC ambassadors — it appears they are fake accounts that violate Twitter’s terms. We’ve asked Twitter to investigate and take appropriate action,” Amazon spokesman Ty Rogers said in a statement to The Washington Post.

Amazon began the FC ambassador initiative a few years ago to fight criticism about the working conditions at its warehouses. A company spokeswoman said in 2019 that “FC ambassadors are employees who work in our FCs (fulfilment centres) and share facts based on personal experience.” 

She also said that it was “important that we do a good job educating people about the actual environment inside our fulfilment centres, and the FC ambassador programme is a big part of that along with the FC tours we provide.”

Amazon has faced criticism after several reports detailed the harsh working conditions at the company. The Guardian said this month that 14-hour shifts were common for Amazon’s delivery workers and the pressure to meet delivery rates meant some had to use a plastic bottle to go to the bathroom. 

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also slammed Amazon on Wednesday over how defecating in bags is a common problem because of the pressure it puts on employees.

Amazon has been hitting back at criticism of its workplace environment in recent days.

Responding to Dave Clark, CEO of Amazon worldwide consumer business, US representative Mark Pocan said that paying workers $15 an hour doesn’t make Amazon a “progressive workplace” when it “union-bust and make workers urinate in water bottles.”

The official Amazon News account fired back, saying, “You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us. The truth is that we have over a million incredible employees around the world who are proud of what they do, and have great wages and health care from day one.”