Amazon is pursuing an increasingly aggressive PR strategy, picking fights with Democratic politicians such as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders on Twitter

Who is Amazon trying to convince? — Amazon is intensifying its bizarre online public relations strategy of picking increasingly petty …

The Verge 2021-03-28 Nick Statt

Context & Ripple Effects

Amazon’s public posts fit an executive-directed effort to answer criticism more forcefully: subsequent reporting said Bezos believed executives were not pushing back enough on inaccurate claims. The approach later sits alongside reports of Amazon’s state-level lobbying against privacy measures and journalists’ accounts of aggressive PR tactics, making the tweets part of a broader contest over the company’s political narrative.

First-order effects

Amazon shifts its response to criticism from Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders into a public, platform-native confrontation, making its rebuttals visible to customers, employees, and policymakers at once.
Amazon’s communications team is pressed to execute the tougher posture described in reporting on Bezos’s demand for stronger pushback.

Second-order effects

Warren and Sanders gain a more direct corporate counterparty on Twitter, raising the visibility and speed of exchanges over Amazon’s conduct.
Amazon’s political and media relations become more tightly coupled: public messaging can reinforce the company’s advocacy positions while drawing scrutiny to the tactics used to defend them.

Third-order effects

If sustained, Amazon’s model points to large-company public affairs becoming less separable from real-time social-media campaigning, with executive leadership setting the tone for both.
The combination of public rebuttal and lobbying activity raises the stakes for policymakers and journalists evaluating whether corporate influence is being exercised through formal advocacy, communications pressure, or both.

The trend: Amazon is part of a broader shift toward executive-led, direct-to-public corporate political communications that operate alongside conventional lobbying.

Discussion

@amazonnews @amazonnews on x
@repmarkpocan 1/2 You don't really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us. The truth is that we have over a million incredible employees around the world who are proud of what they do, and have great wages and health care from day…
@amazonnews @amazonnews on x
This is extraordinary and revealing. One of the most powerful politicians in the United States just said she's going to break up an American company so that they can't criticize her anymore. https://twitter.com/...
@senwarren Elizabeth Warren on x
I didn't write the loopholes you exploit, @amazon - your armies of lawyers and lobbyists did. But you bet I'll fight to make you pay your fair share. And fight your union-busting. And fight to break up Big Tech so you're not powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets. …
@amazonnews @amazonnews on x
@SenWarren 1/3 You make the tax laws @SenWarren; we just follow them. If you don't like the laws you've created, by all means, change them. Here are the facts: Amazon has paid billions of dollars in corporate taxes over the past few years alone.
@amazonnews @amazonnews on x
There's a big difference between talk and action. @SenSanders has been a powerful politician in Vermont for 30 years and their min wage is still $11.75. Amazon's is $15, plus great health care from day one. Sanders would rather talk in Alabama than act in Vermont.
@repmarkpocan Rep. Mark Pocan on x
Paying workers $15/hr doesn't make you a “progressive workplace” when you union-bust & make workers urinate in water bottles. https://twitter.com/...
@amazonnews @amazonnews on x
@SenWarren 3/3 So what have we done about that? $350B in investments since 2010 & 400K new US jobs last year alone. And while you're working on changing the tax code, can we please raise the federal minimum wage to $15?
@dancrenshawtx Dan Crenshaw on x
Lol I'm pretty sure literally every American is powerful enough to heckle you with snotty tweets. Nice grandstanding though. Really stuck it to em. https://twitter.com/...
@amazonnews @amazonnews on x
@SenWarren 2/3 In 2020, we had another $1.7B in federal tax expense and that's on top of the $18 billion we generated in sales taxes for states and localities in the U.S. Congress designed tax laws to encourage investment in the economy.
@mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x
Not sure “no bad tweets” is a viable goal for antitrust policy. https://twitter.com/...
@barbaracomstock Barbara Comstock on x
Pretty clear that @SenWarren is not a fan of the First Amendment. https://twitter.com/...
@leonhwolf Leon Wolf on x
Lots going on here but I'm focused on a Senator thinking it's appropriate to use the power of the federal government to punish a company for heckling her on Twitter, which is kind of terrifying https://twitter.com/...
@simondolan @simondolan on x
This last insidious line is what @amazon really want. Raising the min wage to $15 an hour would succeed in killing small business. Amazon can pay $15 an hour if they want- why do they require it to be mandatory for all? https://twitter.com/...
@fpwellman Fred Wellman on x
I've only been in PR for a couple of decades or so. This is extraordinarily poor thinking for a corporate behemoth that rakes in billions a month. Nobody on Earth thinks Amazon is a victim of anything. If they think they're going to win the public opinion on this it's a mistake. …
@marwilliamson Marianne Williamson on x
Jeff Bezos could single-handedly make life fundamentally better (allow unions, fairer employee pay structure) for almost a million people without sacrificing anything in his own life. What a gift he could give to himself & to the world.(I wonder what #AmazonPR will say to that)
@yoda Drew Olanoff on x
this will (continue to) backfire. https://twitter.com/...
@mattnavarra @mattnavarra on x
Amazon's new Twitter game is a risky one https://www.theverge.com/...
@mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x
Like the tweet thing was dumb, but that's in fact not why Warren wants to break up Amazon. She's laid out her idea about it being bad for a company to sell first-party goods while also operating a sales platform, and it's just not very compelling.
@oliviakatbi Olivia Katbi Smith on x
Ok this is obviously Dave Clark tweeting on this account lmao no one working in PR would ever do this https://twitter.com/...
@dmedin11 Daniel Medina on x
Maybe Amazon PR dept needs a union? https://twitter.com/...
@sensanders Bernie Sanders on x
At a time of massive wealth inequality, the GOP estate tax repeal bill would give a $1.7 trillion tax cut to the top 0.1% & NOTHING for the 99.9%. It provides: $88B to the Walton family $71B to the Bezos family $64B to the Musk family Just what we need. Totally insane.
@adamjohnsonnyc Adam H. Johnson on x
Just an all time corporate meltdown, why not just ignore it! You're worth $1.5 trillion, spend more on lobbying than any group on earth, have a film studio and microphones listening in on millions of homes! You're more powerful than god you don't have to tweet through it! https:/…
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
honestly the whole Amazon PR twitter piss bottle flame war smacks of “high level comms going aggro because the CEO appreciates aggression rather than passivity” (i have no inside knowledge)
@koush @koush on x
At this point, I'm certain this boneheaded tweeting through it is a ruse. Buried during this news cycle was Amazon cutting off their entry level workers from the internal company directory. An unprecedented action intended to stymie the organization efforts of 500,000 employees. …
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
This is extraordinary and revealing. One of the most powerful companies in the United States (and the world) can't take criticism from a politician without acting like on of the most powerful babies in the world. https://twitter.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
It is fascinating that they are doubling down here with this bonkers strategy, which means IMHO it pretty much has to come from Bezos. Maybe now that his archenemy Trump is gone, he feels emboldened. But I wonder who the Dan Scavino of Amazon is here.
@carolecadwalla Carole Cadwalladr on x
Facebook's spokesdude @andystone has been rogue on Twitter for some time. Now @amazonnews has launched what is basically a troll account. Fascinating development in the ongoing Trumpification of big tech https://twitter.com/...
@robpegoraro Rob Pegoraro on x
Somebody at Amazon PR seems to have confused Twitter for Reddit's r/politics (and is also struggling with the difference between the U.S. Senate and the Vermont General Assembly). https://twitter.com/...
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
Amazon is so obsessed with Warren and Sanders that you'd swear they were customers. https://twitter.com/...
@jacobinmag Jacobin on x
Amazon's PR Flacks Are Starting to Sweat https://jacobinmag.com/... @alexnpress
@slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x
@amazonnews Look, sorry you lost your social media manager position at Breitbart, but you're representing a massive corporation now. Time to start tweeting like it.
@dakami Dan Kaminsky on x
Amazon and Uber are actually in a position to advocate for bathroom access for people who leave their home. I mean, it's hilarious and stupid that's gotten difficult, but our culture is hilarious and stupid sometimes. Here, it's embarrassed to complain. Workers need bathrooms. ht…
@randileeharper @randileeharper on x
at one point, i had direct access to one of the main amazon twitter accounts. i had to deal directly with PR a *lot*. this is just... not what that company does. what the fuck.
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
No she didn't, @SenWarren said that will be the result not the reason. But don't let the facts get in the way, Amazon. ps your two other antitrust musketeers just increased your exposure yesterday. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@randileeharper @randileeharper on x
i just want to point out - amazon very, very rarely involves themselves in politics, especially at a PR level. https://twitter.com/...
@amazonnews @amazonnews on x
@SenSanders @SenSanders, we're proud that we were one of the first retailers to raise our starting wage to at least $15/hr in 2018 & strongly support your efforts to get others to follow. We're also proud to offer full benefits & a safe, inclusive workplace. Pls visit & see for y…
@codytfenwick Cody Fenwick on x
lol people need to chill a little, Warren sending a barbed tweet to a gigantic company that is trolling critics on Twitter is not the pathway to authoritarianism, I promise you https://twitter.com/...
@ashleyfeinberg Ashley Feinberg on x
one thing i will give the amazon account is that i didn't previously know it was possible to feel embarrassed on behalf of a trillion dollar company https://twitter.com/...
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
very relatable for Jeff Bezos to retire as Amazon CEO just to spend more time tweeting
@jroberts332 James Roberts on x
Apparently, Amazon News might be the company's Worldwide Consumer CEO overriding the PR ppl and taking matters into his own hands. It feels like this is all building to... something. If that something benefits Amazon, expect other huge orgs to experiment with combative comms too …
@alwaystheself Professor Fleming on x
May every obnoxious Amazon tweet inspire unionization.. https://twitter.com/...
@charlescwcooke Charles C. W. Cooke on x
“Break up Big Tech so you're not powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets” is perhaps more telling than Warren intended. https://twitter.com/...
@cascamike Mike Casca on x
you have to respect @JayCarney and @davehclark's commitment to the message that top executives at amazon have zero understanding of how laws are made. game recognize game. https://twitter.com/...
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
When did Amazon hire Neera Tanden to run their Twitter account? https://twitter.com/...
@marceloclaure Marcelo Claure on x
This is wrong. Plainly wrong. Let me punish you so you don't have the freedom to express your thoughts about government officials? Give me a break @SenWarren https://twitter.com/...
@augustjpollak August J. Pollak on x
There's an incredibly strong possibility that this single PR Twitter account is going to become so hated it will be responsible for the first actual tax increase in this country in 30 years https://twitter.com/...
@azeem Azeem Azhar on x
Amazon plumbs new depths of pathetic. https://twitter.com/...
@krisvire Kris Vire on x
Would love to be a fly on the wall in the meeting where Amazon execs decided petty shitposting at members of Congress was a solid PR strategy
@amazonnews @amazonnews on x
@repmarkpocan 2/2 We hope you can enact policies that get other employers to offer what we already do.
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
There may well be reasons to break up Amazon, but a sitting US Senator saying they should be broken up for heckling a Senator is authoritarian, censorial nonsense. This is a very bad look. https://twitter.com/...
@aoc Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on x
This you? https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@kenklippenstein Ken Klippenstein on x
Amazon management knows its workers urinate in bottles and even defecate in bags in order to save time, internal company documents leaked to me reveal: https://theintercept.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Except to add, oh no, Warren reinforcements are here and Amazon better up its game: https://twitter.com/...
@henrymance Henry Mance on x
Amazon Sub-Prime https://twitter.com/...
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
@amazonnews you know what's extraordinary? Bottles of piss. https://www.theverge.com/...
@kasie Kasie Hunt on x
This PR strategy is extremely confusing to me, especially considering it's directed at a member of Congress who, you know, has at least some power? Maybe it just reflects the tech companies' disdain for Congress...which I get but which also seems dangerous for them? https://twitt…
@joluehmann Jo Luehmann on x
He's a billionaire because he's smart and he's worked so hard. It's not because he exploits people and has had a lot of privilege in his life. Duh! https://twitter.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Not sure defecation and snotty tweets is how Amazon wanted to end its week. https://twitter.com/...
@theyelitsa Yelitsa Jean-Charles on x
This is the price of your 2 day delivery. https://twitter.com/...
@ketanj0 Ketan Joshi on x
Do these people really seem like allies in climate? This is what they think of their workers - what do they think of us? https://twitter.com/...
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
Literal shitposting https://twitter.com/...
@businessinsider @businessinsider on x
Amazon drivers say they had to poop in bags and struggled to change menstrual pads in addition to peeing in bottles https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
@_cingraham Christopher Ingraham on x
Incredible email from an Amazon logistics manager. “This is the 3rd occasion in the last 2 months when bags have been returned to station with poop inside.” https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@kenbensinger Ken Bensinger on x
Amazon claims its workers don't pee in bottles; defenders say it's an urban legend. But these photos sent to me by a former driver for a former @amazon contractor called Synctruck in a California facility suggest strongly otherwise. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@ingridlunden Ingrid on x
That Amazon knew and then gaslit ppl over these accusations makes an already awful situation even worse. The circumstances are atrocious. https://twitter.com/...
@kateconger O...K on x
seems like that Amazon tweet wasn't the best idea https://theintercept.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@doctorow Cory Doctorow on x
There's always a leaked memo. https://theintercept.com/... https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@joshsternberg Josh Sternberg on x
Amazon brought a spoon to a knife fight, and @kenklippenstein shows us how sharp knives are. Also, great header image game. https://theintercept.com/...
@dakami Dan Kaminsky on x
A rather different take: There are no public restrooms and private industry in the states is increasingly locking up the bathrooms. It ain't just the homeless that have nowhere to go. There's a city I will never go to again because of this. Ever. Black zone. https://twitter.com/.…
@liamyoung Liam Young on x
Amazing work as always from detective @kenklippenstein. Hours after Amazon PR deny that their workers ever have to degradingly piss in bottles, he comes up with Amazon's own receipts showing that their workers do have to degradingly piss in bottles: https://theintercept.com/...
@karengeier @karengeier on x
I feel like if someone at my job discovered one jar of urine we'd have to have an all hands meeting about it and they would probably call in a counselor https://twitter.com/...
@kenklippenstein Ken Klippenstein on x
Email from Amazon logistics manager: “This evening, an associate discovered human feces in an Amazon bag that was returned to the station by a driver. This is the 3rd occasion in the last 2 months when bags have been returned to the station with poop...” https://theintercept.com/…
@bernieupstateny @bernieupstateny on x
“None of us should have to deal with these kinds of messes” say the people who force drivers to create & deal with these messes. Where are drivers supposed to urinate & defecate? Then where are they to dispose of that stuff? In a trash can? Seems like that would spread diseases? …
@nausjcaa Nausicaa Renner on x
They even made it a fireable offense! https://twitter.com/...
@everywhereist Geraldine on x
They are so aware of this that if you get caught doing it, you don't get fired, you just get written up. https://twitter.com/...
@thekarami Arash on x
she's more irritated than concerned that workers are pooping in bags https://twitter.com/...
@bobpickard Bob Pickard on x
There is no doubt that @amazon is a convenient company, but is it a good company? It is a high capability brand, but this makes one wonder about their corporate character. https://twitter.com/...
@brandon_mckoy Brandon J. McKoy on x
This is dystopia personified to me, especially the “by scanning the QR code on the bag we know who had it last” piece. Yet, Amazon execs were denying the mere reality of workers not getting basic breaks to address bio needs just a day or so ago. https://twitter.com/...
@attackerman Spencer Ackerman on x
“Halie Marie Brown, a 26-year old...who worked as a delivery driver for an Amazon delivery contractor...told The Intercept that the practice “happens because we are literally implicitly forced to do so, otherwise we will end up losing our jobs for too many ‘undelivered packages’”…
@repmarkpocan Rep. Mark Pocan on x
Wait, so the company with a well-documented history of poor workplace conditions & union-busting actually knew about its awful workplace conditions and did nothing to help its workers? And here I thought @amazon was a “progressive workplace.” https://twitter.com/...
@juliacarmel__ Julia Salazar on x
“They give us 30 minutes of paid breaks, but you will not finish your work if you take it, no matter how fast you are.” Amazon's treatment of their workers is horrendous. https://twitter.com/...
@people4bernie @people4bernie on x
“We've noticed an uptick recently of all kinds of unsanitary garbage being left inside bags: used masks, gloves, bottles of urine” internal @amazon email #BAmazonUnion https://theintercept.com/...
@ryangrim Ryan Grim on x
Fact check: https://twitter.com/...
@mims Christopher Mims on x
Amazon #peegate is just such a perfect, perfect encapsulation of how this company operates and (spoiler alert) what I learned about how it operates in the course of researching my book. I can't resist, here's a brief thread. 🧵 https://twitter.com/...
@alexnpress Alex Press on x
my first response to this was to laugh because it's such a ridiculous tweet but honestly, this is infuriating. here are the type of texts Amazon workers send me https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@ositanwanevu Osita Nwanevu on x
https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@bigblackjacobin Edward Ongweso Jr on x
Can someone figure out tomorrow if this tweet increased searches about Amazon workers pissing in bottles meaningfully? Because if it did, then we need to protect this person's job and get them to keep doing it https://twitter.com/...
@juliacarriew Julia Carrie Wong on x
What I love about this tweet is that it in no way contains a denial that Amazon workers have to pee in bottles. https://twitter.com/...
@jaynooch Honest Jabe on x
Gotta say I'd be less likely to believe in the pee bottles if Amazon hadn't produced a commercial with the line “I love working at Amazon, we can pee literally whenever we want!” https://twitter.com/...
@tristandross @tristandross on x
had to double-check i didn't hallucinate the ‘amazon fc ambassador’ scheme, where they had a load of their employees come on here to boast about how they were allowed to use ‘real bathrooms’ and that their depression had nothing to do with amazon and was entireely their own fault…
@fshakir Faiz on x
While we're on the subject, bathroom breaks are a serious concern raised by workers. Listen to Linda, who works at the Bessemer plant, explain. “We want to go to the bathroom!” (Via @GrimKim) https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
Amazon has 91% favorability among Americans. That's what it's thinking about when it lashes out. https://twitter.com/...
@paulg Paul Graham on x
Politicians call Bezos greedy for having $x billion. But he didn't do this by taking more Amazon shares. He did it by growing revenues and thus the share price. So if he'd opted not to build AWS, that would have been the more moral choice, because then he'd have been less greedy?
@qasimrashid @qasimrashid on x
Amazon spent $19M on lobbyists to write the tax laws. You then paid $0 tax on $12B profit. Had you paid even the reduced 21% corp tax you'd would've paid $2.5B in tax. TL:DR $19M in lobbying to avoid $2.5B in taxes while Amazon workers urinate in bottles & live off food stamps. h…
@owenjones84 Owen Jones on x
Here is my documentary featuring an Amazon worker who has to pee in a bottle: https://www.youtube.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
Consumer sentiment is sky high and Amazon already pays a $15/hr minimum wage. The company probably feels like a punching bag (e.g. AOC doesn't tweet about gun control after a week of mass shooting but is quick with the Amazon dunks) but pissing off governments never works out. ht…
@arrizstephen Stephen Arriz on x
@profgalloway I remember you saying Amazon had more PR employees than the @washingtonpost had journalists. Whelp! Looks like they can only cover it up for so long. https://twitter.com/...
@michaelsteele Michael Steele on x
.@SenWarren disagreement is not the same as heckling. You need to check yourself if you seek to silence critics of your decisions or actions as a senator. Regardless of your disdain for their “snotty tweets”, Amazon can tweet snot at you all day. Bring tissue, not cancel culture.…
@johnlegere John Legere on x
Not a good look, Amazon. https://www.theverge.com/...
@maggienyt Maggie Haberman on x
Did the former president help shape this? https://twitter.com/...
@sonnybunch Sonny Bunch on x
literally the only good thing about this site is being able to heckle politicians with snotty tweets https://twitter.com/...
@nataliesurely Natalie Shure on x
“if <insert horrific working conditions here> were true, nobody would work for us” is such age-old baloney it's addressed within first few pages of Capital. It frames boss/worker relationship as voluntary arrangement btwn two equals, but only the latter depends on it for survival…
@j_bloodworth James Bloodworth on x
It doesn't really matter but this is not accurate. I reported on Amazon warehouse workers doing it 6 months before that story came out https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...

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