These are the words that Amazon’s planned employee chat app won’t let you say

Amazon is said to be planning to add a content filter to an internal messaging app that is in preparation and will block words that reflect the company’s working conditions or relate to organizing a syndicate, according to internal documents obtained by Intercept.

With the filter in place, the app will block or flag messages that include words like ‘union’, ‘forced labour’, ‘grievances’, ‘living wage’ or others. oh yeah, that will filter out the ‘washroom’ as well (maybe to prevent you from telling your co-worker “I just went to rest room in a bottle”).

A source familiar with the situation said Intercept Amazon executives met in November 2021 to discuss creating a social media platform dedicated to employees. Dave Clark, head of Amazon’s worldwide consumer business, reportedly suggested that the app offer a one-on-one social experience, like dating app Bumble, instead of serving as a big social hub like Facebook. It will allow employees to highlight each other’s work by creating posts called “screams”. Amazon will somehow integrate these trends into files gamification programany Intercept He already says he showers employees with virtual stars and badges for their productivity.

During the meeting, the executives reportedly discussed the “dark side of social media” and agreed to monitor employee posts (in the event Amazon launched the platform). They obviously did some brainstorming after the meeting, which is when the source reports that they put together their “bad” word list.

In addition to profanity and other inappropriate words, Intercept He says it will also include “unfair,” “master,” “slave,” “injustice,” “morals,” “diversity,” “justice,” “salary increase,” and phrases like “that’s stupid” or “this is about.” ” What’s the best way to deal with employees’ fears of keeping them out of existence? Coming from the company Getting people on Twitter to say nice things about herI can’t say I’m surprised.

“Our teams are always thinking of new ways to help employees interact with one another,” Amazon spokeswoman Barbara Agrett said in a statement. the edge. “This particular program is not yet approved and may change dramatically or not even be launched at all. If it does launch at some point down the road, there are no plans for a lot of the words you’re calling to be screened. The only kinds of words that might get blocked. are offensive or harassing words, which are intended to protect our team.”

for the first time The Amazon Consortium has just formed in a Staten Island warehouse in New YorkRepresent A huge teacher for Amazon workers across the country. a Unions vote in Depot Bessemer, Alabama He was very close to the call and would be decided by a court hearing – this was the second election after The National Labor Relations Board says Amazon has broken labor laws during the first. at the same time, Union voting at another Staten Island warehouse is underway.