There’s a new social media influence campaign trying to sway public opinion on the internet. But instead of Kremlin-linked hackers, this time, it’s Amazon warehouse workers.
A Twitter user by the name of Flamboyant Shoes Guy exposed a group of Amazon warehouse employees on Thursday (Aug. 23) who all seemed to be defending the company on Twitter with strikingly similar canned responses.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the so-called “FC Ambassador Program” (FC is short for “Fulfillment Center”) to Quartz today (Aug. 26), claiming, “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.”
The ambassadors’ comments seem to revolve around warehouse working conditions and compensation—two topics for which the e-commerce giant has been heavily scrutinized in recent years.
The 14 ambassadors participating in the program aren’t paid for their tweets—but they do receive some minimal alternative forms of compensation. A former FC ambassador told Yahoo Finance that he received “a paid day off (that expired in 3 weeks lol) and a $50 Amazon gift card. Plus, they gave us lunch. Coldcuts and sandwich bread.”
The program aims to convince the world that Amazon warehouse employees are being treated well. But cold cuts and sandwich bread sure don’t sound like much.