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Amazon's warehouse 'ambassadors' play defense on Twitter

Everything in the warehouses is just dandy, says the ambassadors.

Marrian Zhou Staff Reporter
Marrian Zhou is a Beijing-born Californian living in New York City. She joined CNET as a staff reporter upon graduation from Columbia Journalism School. When Marrian is not reporting, she is probably binge watching, playing saxophone or eating hot pot.
Marrian Zhou
2 min read
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Smile! All is well with Amazon warehouse workers. 

Amazon/Screenshot by Marrian Zhou/CNET

A group of Amazon employees has nothing but nice things to say on Twitter about working at the online retailer.

The so-called "FC Ambassadors" are people who work in Amazon warehouses and are paid to defend and promote the company on Twitter, reported the BBC.

TechCrunch spotted 15 of the ambassador accounts on Twitter, according to a report published Thursday. They all have the signature Amazon smiley face as their backgrounds and the same format for their Twitter bio -- job title, warehouse location, years of working at Amazon, hobbies and links to Amazon's warehouse tour service.

So far, the accounts have responded to questions and criticism about everything from Amazon's health benefits, to how they got the ambassador role, to whether warehouse employees get sufficient bathroom breaks.

Amazon has faced criticism over labor issues including pay and treatment of warehouse employees. The company's warehouse workers in Spain, Germany and Poland went on strike last month during Prime Day over poor work conditions and other issues. Earlier in February, the e-commerce giant patented a wristband that tracks where the workers put their hands in relation to inventory bins in order to eliminate the need for extra time-consuming acts such as pushing a button. Workers in Europe also went on strike on Black Friday last November after disappointing talks over pay.

"It's important that we do a good job of educating people about the actual environment inside our fulfillment centers," an Amazon spokesman said in an email statement. "The FC ambassador program is a big part of that." 

CNET's Carrie Mihalcik contributed to this report. 

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