• Amazon allegedly using bot accounts to shut down critics
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https://www.dailydot.com/debug/amazon-ambassadors-twitter/?tu=dd Carol is a Pick Department associate and a process trainer at an Amazon warehouse in Kent, Washington. To Carol, “family is everything,” and she loves classic rock and classic cars. Jeremy is into “cats, sports, anime, and video games,” and he works the overnight shift for Amazon in San Marcos, Texas. Misty is an Amazon inbound dock problem solver in Etna, Ohio. She has two grandkids, and she proclaims that “crochet is my calm.” What do all these Amazon employees have in common? They’re all completely new to Twitter and a part of Amazon’s ambassador program that is trying to make the mega-company more relatable to the public. They’re extolling the company line in virtually every tweet they write, and they’re trying their best to give off a vibe that working at Amazon is an amazing experience. Meanwhile, these Twitter accounts have given off a dystopian world/Stepford Wives vibe that has made the internet a little uneasy. According to TechCrunch, there are at least 15 of these accounts who are being paid to spout the company line. It’s been previously reported in the past few years that Amazon warehouse workers are often tasked to do intensive, laborious work in intolerable conditions and to move as fast as humanly possible. There’s little doubt the company needs continuously good PR. In February, Amazon was granted patents for a tracking device that could show management exactly where their workers are and what they’re doing—again, it’s another look into a possible dystopian worker landscape. There was a troubling report earlier this year that a number of Amazon workers have to use food stamps because Amazon’s wages are too low, and there was another report that stated workers urinate in water bottles because they feared facing discipline for taking a bathroom break. https://twitter.com/Choplogik/status/1032739698274230272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1032739698274230272&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Ftech%2F2018%2F08%2F24%2Fmazon-pays-creepy-twitter-accounts-to-say-nice-things-about-company%2F https://twitter.com/slutaburger/status/1032852493133377537 https://twitter.com/bornwithatail_/status/1032674364427251712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1032674364427251712&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Ftech%2F2018%2F08%2F24%2Fmazon-pays-creepy-twitter-accounts-to-say-nice-things-about-company%2F
I can't believe they thought this was a good idea. Jeff Bezos is a fucking tosspot
Nothing says "good intentions for our workforce" like enlisting robots to silence dissent!
What the fuck is even the point of doing this if you're gonna make it so obvious?
It's not surprising since this is so commonplace Just look at the FCC. Ajit Pai had bot accounts supporting the removal on NN. Practically billions of bots with the purpose of flooding out the people that were pro-NN. And then you have youtube that is using AI to effectively kill channels. Using AI to control people is the norm.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlVvBMZXoAA-waI.jpg
Thomas and Kara: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M06eFBumLQs
A boring dystopia is the safest, most profitable option after all. If you go full Blade Runner you rick dissidents.
wow MGS2 was fucking spot on with the whole "AI will control the flow of information to change the view of the public" thing. Social media has effectively been weaponised with all these bots with AI "suggesting" what we see - think it might be time to start regulating this shit.
Bots, or at least petty people, can also do the complete opposite and leave 1 star reviews. The most honest and constructive reviews are typically those from 2 out of 5 to 4 out of 5.
I'm pretty sure these aren't bots and are actual Amazon employees following strict guidelines for their astroturfing. Regardless, what an unbelievably stupid move from Amazon.
Did you not read the screenshot Chris_the_qt posted? Cause that's far more bot behavior than person behavior.
Why create an AI to do this when you can just pay a warehouse full of poor Asian people a couple of pennies an hour to do it? Also the term 'fullfilment center" they use for their warehouses creeps the living shit out of me.
That sounds absolutely soul-crushing.
I might get flamed for this but I'm going to ask anyway because I'm curious: why dont they unionise? I'm guess America's laws arent very pro union?
Probably the same reason that Wal-mart employees have never been able to unionize. Very high turnover rates and the company doing everything in their power, even if it's technically illegal (but usually not provably so), to get in the way of them unionizing.
Unions are communist/socialist and are evil.
Why not just friggin' have robots in the warehouses at this point? At least let the workers instead have jobs maintaining the damn things so they can actually work in a humane fashion. Having a smartwatch literally dictate your every movement and alert your superiors if you move even slightly out of line sounds incredibly demoralizing.
MGS2 wasn't really the first game to talk about that idea, Kojima was just lifting a lot of his information from sources at the time
I hate it when companies come up with silly and shitty names for othewise mundane things. Genius bar is one good example. But this takes the cake. Its like it came out of The Island. " You won The Lottery! Congratulations!" And then you get killed and your organs harvested. I mean, its a fucking warehouse. How is that anywhere near something that gives fulfillment?!
Not for the people working there, but it is for fulfilling orders. That is where the term comes from.
At least with tech products, I've found the best reviews are somewhere in the middle. I don't trust short five star reviews, and 1 star reviews on a high-ranking product usually show signs of someone getting defective merchandise.The 3 to 4 star range usually has the most detailed reviews, and will let you know about the actual faults of an overall good product. They helped me make decisions regarding my last two computers that have definitely paid off.
https://twitter.com/AmazonFCIsaac/status/1032016499723124742 Big fan of this one
Because r&d costs a lot, purchasing a robot costs a lot, and the limitations of robots to deal with such a problem probably don't make much sense with some warehouses they have. But, I'd bet my ass they will have robots once the dollars align in the right direction.
there's no room for souls in B I G B U S I N E S S
Hot damn, from all the shit I hear about Amazon’s warehouses I know I’d lose my mind and torch one if I ever worked there. Shit’s inhuman.
Bezos was a slave driver the day the company was founded. I think in an interview in the 90's the original office was deplorable and employees could be fired for failing to answer an email on time. He only cares about spending money on improving customer experience, employee working conditions don't factor into that. https://youtu.be/Q4f41fqxftU?t=85
Man, I work at a local kroger chain, and while it's rough, this sounds so much worse. 'least we can go to the bathroom if we need and get a 15-30 minute break halfway through the shift. Nine an hour's nice too.
Transfer to clicklist buddy it's so fucking chill in that department
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