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Technology

Amazon ambassadors flood Twitter with 'fake' messages: Report

San Francisco, Aug 17 

There has been a surge in Amazon employees' accounts on Twitter who are praising the e-commerce giant, the workplace and its policies on the platform, creating suspicion among former workers whether this is actually the case.

The employees -- known as "fulfillment centre (FC) ambassadors" -- have flooded Twitter in recent times, tweeting about how much they love working at Amazon, the Vice reported on Friday.

"The accounts are spread across the world, with users not just based in the US but Spain, the UK, Germany and elsewhere too," the report said.

"I suffer from depression too, and at one point I wanted to quit Amazon. But I realized it was my fault for the problems I was dealing with, and not Amazon's. I'm allowed to talk to people, but sometimes I don't want to. Now I have some great coworkers to pass the nights with," tweeted Hannah, an Amazon FC Ambassador.

Another Twitter account by the name of @AmazonFCRafael tweeted: "It's true that our managers don't have the power to improve our wages, but they can help and look out for employees like me on doing the job that we do. The wages of the FC is $15-$17/hr, with good benefits and paid tuition for school".

However, some former Amazon ambassadors aren't convinced by the new claims.

"That account you linked to seemed suspiciously fake. Like they hired a PR person to work as an associate for a bit or something," one former ambassador told Motherboard.

"You'd never expect to see a FedEx or UPS factory worker making posts about how great it is to work there," the ex-Amazon ambassador added.

Amazon said the accounts were indeed controlled by full-time employees.

"These accounts are run by FC employees who understand what it's actually like to work in our FCs," an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.

Motherboard found the vast majority of accounts posted tweets using a social media management tool called "Sprinklr".

"It appears that many of the FC Ambassador accounts are linked to an Amazon email address specifically created for handling part of the FC's social media presence."

Amazon last year created a series of Twitter accounts for its "FC ambassadors".

"The ambassadors tweeted about the plentiful bathroom breaks offered them by their employer with a false cheer common to hostages. In exchange for their testimony, the workers reportedly received one additional paid day off, and a $50 gift card," reports The Verge.

Amazon has been criticised for "poor working practices" at its fulfillment centres.

In July, Amazon workers and activists took to the streets as the retail giant's biggest sales event of the year, Prime Day, kicked off.

The workers voiced opposition protesting the company's general culture, working conditions, pay and benefits.

Activists said that workers at Amazon face long hours with few bathroom breaks and do not get a living wage.