Maybe it's time for Amazon to log off of Twitter.
IMAGE: SEAN GALLUP / GETTY IMAGES
IMAGE: SEAN GALLUP / GETTY IMAGES
BY RACHEL KRAUS
1 DAY AGO
Amazon's public relations Twitter account messed with the wrong lawmakers.
The account, @amazonnews, appears to be trying out a new PR strategy. Over the past few days, it has issued tweets denying labor abuses and (legal) tax dodging, in a tone that can only be described as.... sassy?
RE the whole pee bottle thing, Amazon got ratioed real hard by people tweeting responses with images, documents, and news reports of — what else — pee bottles. Some Amazon factory workers and delivery drivers say they have to resort to peeing in bottles because Amazon's productivity requirements don't give them enough time to go to the bathroom.
One of the people tweeting at Amazon was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She quote-tweeted Amazon's blithe denial with a letter from an Amazon Logistics employee documenting the phenomenon.
Still apparently Mad and Online, the next day, Amazon actively riled another labor rights advocate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Warren tweeted about her plans to close tax loopholes that allow companies like Amazon to pay lower taxes. Amazon's Twitter account decided to go with a "we're just following the rules" defense.
Warren, of course, was not having it. She responded that Amazon pays buckets of money in lobbying fees to make sure the tax code is favorable to the company. A new report from Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, says Amazon spends more on lobbying than any corporation in the U.S. besides Facebook (excluding trade groups and "consolidated corporate spenders" like Blue Cross Blue Shield).
Amazon's public relations Twitter account messed with the wrong lawmakers.
The account, @amazonnews, appears to be trying out a new PR strategy. Over the past few days, it has issued tweets denying labor abuses and (legal) tax dodging, in a tone that can only be described as.... sassy?
RE the whole pee bottle thing, Amazon got ratioed real hard by people tweeting responses with images, documents, and news reports of — what else — pee bottles. Some Amazon factory workers and delivery drivers say they have to resort to peeing in bottles because Amazon's productivity requirements don't give them enough time to go to the bathroom.
One of the people tweeting at Amazon was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She quote-tweeted Amazon's blithe denial with a letter from an Amazon Logistics employee documenting the phenomenon.
Still apparently Mad and Online, the next day, Amazon actively riled another labor rights advocate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Warren tweeted about her plans to close tax loopholes that allow companies like Amazon to pay lower taxes. Amazon's Twitter account decided to go with a "we're just following the rules" defense.
Warren, of course, was not having it. She responded that Amazon pays buckets of money in lobbying fees to make sure the tax code is favorable to the company. A new report from Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, says Amazon spends more on lobbying than any corporation in the U.S. besides Facebook (excluding trade groups and "consolidated corporate spenders" like Blue Cross Blue Shield).
The exchange is just another reminder to never pick a fight with Liz.
Maybe it's time to log off, Amazon?
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