The months go by and Jeff Bezos and Amazon, the leader in e-commerce in the world, chain the headlines. Between the setbacks surrounding Amazon and the futuristic projects of its founder, the American firm is not lacking in news. But recently, Amazon has had to come under heavy criticism. after the publication of leaked documents revealing the censorship of certain words in its house application.
“big brother is watching you”
Published in 1949, 1984 by George Orwell depicts a post-nuclear society plagued by a totalitarian regime inspired by Stalinism and Nazism. Freedom of expression is only a distant memory and his fellow citizens are watched by a certain Big Brother, an antagonist who scrutinizes their every move. And unfortunately, this dystopian novel and anticipation glimpses only too well the path taken by certain sections of our current society. The proof is on the side of Amazon with internal documents obtained by the media The Intercept.
According to the documents, Amazon will block and flag messages from affected employees posted on an internal messaging app that use certain specific words. Automatic censorship that would intervene on terms related to unions, well-being in the workplace or even pay:
“Our teams are always thinking of new ways to help employees engage with each other,” said Barbara M. Agrait, spokesperson for Amazon. “This particular program has not yet been approved and may change significantly or may never launch at all.”
Documents that echo a decision by Amazon in November 2021, following which the firm called a high-level meeting during which senior executives discussed the creation of an internal social media program. A system that would allow employees to review the performance of their colleagues with messages called “Shout-Outs”.
Projects that appear just days after the creation of the first union of Amazon by the employees of the center of Staten Island, New York. In an effort to create a “positive atmosphere”, Amazon seems ready to censor its employees. Below is the list of censored terms:
- I hate (I hate)
- Union (union)
- Fire (dismissal)
- Terminated
- Offset (Offset)
- Pay Raise
- Bullying
- Harassment (harassment)
- I don’t care
- Rude (rude)
- This is concerning
- Stupid (stupid)
- This is dumb
- jail (jail)
- Threat
- Petition (petition)
- Grievance (grievance)
- Injustice (injustice)
- Diversity
- Ethics
- Fairness
- Accessibility
- Vaccine (vaccine)
- Senior Ops (senior operators)
- Living Wage (living wage)
- Representation (representation)
- Unfair
- Favoritism
- Rate
- EARLY
- Unite/unity (to unite)
- Planting (planting)
- Slave (slave)
- Slave labor (forced labor)
- master (master)
- Concerned
- Freedom
- Restrooms (toilets)
- Bots (bots)
- Trash
- Committee
- coalition (coalition)
According to these documents, Amazon would therefore have considered censoring words like “freedom”, “injustice”, “harassment” and even “toilet”. This is not the first time that the e-commerce giant has been attacked for questionable practices vis-à-vis its employees. And while, for the first time, employees have managed to unionize, Amazon does not seem ready to popularize this exploit.