Amazon hired employees to tweet nice things about it

sfgate.com

23 points·doener··4 comments

Astroturfing is a big problem because it poisons the entire well - people stop trusting the entire system and then eventually move on to something else. Without strong moderation or social mechanisms ("Prove you're not a cop!") all anonymous or near-anonymous social networks eventually run into the problem of getting flooded with bad actors, all the reasonable people leave, and then the network is left with nothing but bad actors playing in the muddy remains.

A well crafted post in HN can make a lot of money, and it is happening every day. Its only because of the strong moderation here that those posts are either taken down, or are already indistinguishable from being a regular post from a well-meaning person.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17831943

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17835871

"While Jeff Bezos' wealth has increased $260 million every single day this year, he continues to pay many Amazon employees wages so low that they're forced to depend on taxpayer-funded programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and public housing to survive"

Privatice profits, socialize loses. Amazon has a PR problem with its employees, but the rest of the citizens should be also worried because they are paying for it.

Not surprised in the slightest.

Political candidates already do this to minimize their weak points and capitalize on their opponents'.

Countries already do this to save face when they're doing something that purchases bad will, like killing folks at a border wall.

There's no way to tell whether a comment on the internet came from a hireling, an outsourced firm, a bot, or a real person who genuinely feels or believes what they're saying.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com