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Amazon stopped paying warehouse 'ambassadors'​ to gush about work in tweets

The program launched in 2018 as a way to fight negative press.

An Amazon warehouse worker

Amazon launched a paid influencer campaign for workers in 2018 as a way to fight negative press.

Photo: Amazon

Amazon has stopped paying warehouse workers to sing the company's praises on social media, according to the Financial Times.

The ecommerce giant shuttered its fulfillment center "ambassadors" program at the end of 2021, claiming executions didn't think the program's reach was good enough, anonymous sources told FT. The program launched in 2018, paying workers in its fulfillment centers to tweet about positive work experiences as a way to fight negative press and repair its reputation. It seemingly started in response to stories tweeted by employees about horrific working conditions and low pay.

According to Insider, ambassadors were tweeting in Amazon's support as recently as March 2021, popping up prior to the union vote in its Bessemer, Alabama, center.

Since the program's launch, the ambassadors had been mocked and parodied, accused of being "propaganda" for the company.

Nat Rubio-Licht

Nat Rubio-Licht is a Los Angeles-based news writer at Protocol. They graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in newspaper and online journalism in May 2020. Prior to joining the team, they worked at the Los Angeles Business Journal as a technology and aerospace reporter.

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