People have been calling out fake Twitter profiles that rush to defend Amazon and criticize unions
For instance, one account used a stock image for a profile pic
While another profile, confirmed to be fake by Amazon, used a photo created on a website
People have been posting jokes and memes about the fake pro-Amazon profiles ever since
In a follow-up interview with Bored Panda, Imgurian Somethingslightlyclever who works at Amazon, told us that it's not at all surprising that Amazon are ducking the serious issues and that they might be behind the fake profiles. "They aren't very inventive with their PR," the Amazon worker opened up to Bored Panda.
The Imgurian is "very pro-union" and doesn't understand the anti-union rhetoric that Amazon and some Americans favor. "I mean, why wouldn't you want a voice? I figure a union is basically turning your job from a dictatorship to a democracy. I think they crush unions for that same reason. To keep us under their heel. It's a lot easier to treat your employees [badly] and pay them less when they have no voice."
The Amazon employee opened up to us about how the company has a "weird environment" and there's always "a camera on you," tracking you "every second" of the day. "For productivity or accuracy or just to know where you are. It does feel like prison sometimes."
If the Bessemer warehouse workers end up joining the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union, this would be the very first union at Amazon in the United States. The situation is different across the pond in Europe where many workers are unionized and the working conditions are, frankly, better than for many Americans.
Some of the fake accounts were spreading straight-up misinformation. For example, Twitter user AmazonFCDarla said that she didn’t like unions because they allegedly don’t give people the ability to opt out of dues. Meanwhile, Alabama, a right-to-work state, allows its workers to opt out of paying these dues.
According to Gizmodo, Darla’s profile photo might look real, but it’s most likely fake, probably created on the Generated Photos website. Gizmodo nearly managed to replicate her exact look.
Amazon confirmed to the BBC that Darla isn’t an official company Ambassador (which are real employees paid to promote and defend the firm). “It appears that this is a fake account that violates Twitter’s terms. We’ve asked Twitter to investigate and take appropriate action,” a spokesperson told the BBC.
Most of the accounts suspended by Twitter had been made a few days ago, had very few followers, and tweeted out only Amazon-related posts.
However, it’s not just made up, robotic corpo-sounding Amazon employees that have been defending the company. Some real staff members, including executives, have been doing so too. In short, they denied allegations about workers having to urinate in bottles, said that employees are proud of their jobs “and have great wages and health care from day one.”
The exhausting working conditions at Amazon are probably nothing new to you, Readers. We’ve recently written about them right here and here if you need a refresher about the endless unfulfillable quotas, urinating in bottles, and pressure to work during your breaks.
