A leaked report published by The Intercept and shared by national media outlets reveals that Amazon plans to ban a lot of controversial words from the company’s internal chat.
Amazon has been continually under criticism for its work conditions and policies. This leaked report regarding a proposed internal social media-style messaging system has just added more fuel to the fire.
The automatic word monitor built into this proposed system appears to include a list of words that seemingly restrict employees’ freedom of speech.
Amazon reportedly plans to ban all the following words
In addition to slurs and swear words, the list of banned words includes terms like:
| I hate | Union | Fire |
| Terminated | Compensation | Pay raise |
| Bullying | Harassment | I don’t care |
| Rude | This is concerning | Stupid |
| This is dumb | Prison | Threat |
| Petition | Grievance | Injustice |
| Diversity | Ethics | Fairness |
| Accessibility | Vaccine | Senior Ops |
| Living wage | Representation | Unfair |
| Favoritism | Coalition | Unite/Unity |
| Plantation | Slave labor | Master |
| Concerned | Freedom | Restrooms |
| Robots | Trash | Committee |
The staff chat was proposed for development in November 2021. According to the global shipping retailer, the program was designed to improve employee productivity, morale, and retention, as well as create a rewards system for using the platform.
“Our teams are always thinking about new ways to help employees engage with each other. This particular program has not been approved yet and may change significantly or even never launch at all,” Amazon spokesperson Barbara M. Agrait responded in regards to the backlash.
Significance of the Leaked Report
In the end, I think we can all agree that a certain “blacklist” of words in a large company makes sense. But the contents of this report seem to cross a line between what people deem appropriate for work and censorship.
I mean, I can’t see any logical reason for restricting words such as “restroom” and “trash” — unless you have some internal issues on these topics that you’re not addressing.
Censorship in and of itself shows that Amazon is unable to effectively confront and address the concerns of its employees. I would urge Amazon to look more closely at the app before moving forward with it as it stands.
Featured image source: Fibonacci Blue from Minnesota, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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