CENSORED

Amazon’s New Staff App Will Block ‘Bad Words’ Like ‘Union’ and ‘Plantation’

An “auto bad word monitor” was initially designed to block profanities, but words associated with unionizing were later added, according to docs leaked to The Intercept.

Leaked documents obtained by The Intercept reveal that Amazon’s new employee messaging app will block and flag words like “Slave labor,” “Plantation,” “Ethics,” “Pay Raise,” and “Union.” The purpose of the app, set to launch at the end of the month, is to boost morale by creating a platform for employees to encourage each other with virtual gold stars and “Shout-Outs.” Employees can collect Shout-Outs for doing things that “add direct business value,” the internal documents explain. An “auto bad word monitor” was initially designed to block profanities, but words associated with unionizing were later added to the bad word list, The Intercept reports. On Friday, a warehouse in New York City made history by voting to establish the first Amazon union.