Codenamed "Veritas," the program involved dispatching paid propagandists on Twitter and elsewhere to say awesome-sounding things about Bezos and Amazon. These propagandists also promoted Bernie Sanders and others advocating for socialism.
These paid trolls also came out in force more recently to defend Amazon against claims that the company abuses its employees and forces them to pee in bottles while on the job to avoid gaps in productivity.
One troll pretending to be an Amazon employee responded to a tweet from someone saying to Amazon that he was "ok with getting the garbage I order from you a lot later if it means your employees are able to take adequate breaks and work with dignity."
"My FC lets me to [sic] take (2) 20min breaks and (1) 30min lunch," the paid troll wrote in response to this person.
"On overtime days, we get three 20min breaks, which is also pretty nice as well. Before the pandemic, our breaks used to be only 15min. The overall 10min increase is [thumbs up]. Being an essential worker is dignifying for me."
This entire response was fake and so was the person who wrote it. The goal, though, is to have others on social media see it in order to diffuse their concerns about Amazon being an abusive company that takes advantage of its workers in order to make Bezos an even richer multi-billionaire.
The "Amazon Public Policy" account on Twitter has been caught doing the same thing in defense of not just Sanders but also fellow socialist Andrew Yang, who continues to be criticized for his errant positions on various matters.
When one Twitter user responded to Yang about the Amazon workers peeing in bottles fiasco, an Amazon troll responded with claims that Amazon is fair to its employees. This same troll claimed that Amazon also pays its fair share of taxes, this being another criticism often levied against the corporate monopoly.
"Last year we had $1.7B in federal tax expense," the Amazon Public Policy account on Twitter wrote.
"We've paid employees at least $15 an hour (2x the fed min wage) since 2018. We also provide paid sick leave & comprehensive benefits in a safe, inclusive environment. You're welcome to visit & see for yourself."
Another user responded about the bathroom issue by claiming that "she" has "numerous bathrooms to use" at the Amazon warehouse where she supposedly works because "the facility is big."
"Each bathroom can have 3-6 [stalls]," this fake person further wrote. "Thats [sic] plenty. Plus with 20-30 mn breaks that's more than enough time."
It all sounds so wonderful and perfect, if only it was true. You see, instead of treating its actual workers fairly, Amazon is spending extra cash paying propaganda workers to flood Twitter with lies about how amazing the company supposedly is.
Why Amazon does not just let its warehouse workers and delivery drivers go the bathroom with dignity instead of paying online trolls to lie about it is truly a mystery. Nobody ever said Bezos was a normal human being, though.
"Most bothersome of all these and other types of corporate and militaristic shenanigans is that they're especially done when all are most vulnerable, suffering, and desperate like during a pandemic," wrote one commenter at The Intercept.
Others noted that they have been done with The Intercept ever since Glenn Greenwald was "morally compelled to leave." However, when it comes to exposing Amazon for the evil company that it truly is, these readers will stick around for a quality read.
More of the latest news about Amazon and Jeff Bezos can be found at Evil.news.
Sources for this article include: