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

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

According to internal documents obtained by The Intercept, Amazon plans to add a content filter to an internal messaging app that would ban words that refer to the company's working conditions or organize a union.

The app would be able to block or flag messages that include words like union,slave labor, andgrievance. It would prevent you from telling your coworker that you went to the restroom in a bottle.

According to a source familiar with the situation, Amazon executives met in November of 2021 to discuss the creation of a social media platform for employees. Dave Clark, Amazon's head of worldwide consumer business, suggested that the app could be used as a one-on-one social experience like the dating app Bumble, rather than as a large social hub like Facebook. It would allow employees to highlight each others work by creating posts called Shout- Outs.

Executives discussed the dark side of social media and agreed to monitor employees' posts should Amazon ever launch the platform. The source reports that they came up with a list of bad words after the meeting.

The Intercept says it would include profanities and other inappropriate words. I'm surprised that a company paid people to say nice things about it.

Barbara Agrait, an Amazon spokeswoman, said in a statement that the company is always thinking about new ways to help employees engage with each other. There are no plans for many of the words you're calling out to be screened if it launches. The only words that can be screened are those that are offensive or harassing.

The first-ever Amazon union was formed at a Staten Island, New York warehouse, which is a huge landmark for Amazon workers across the country. A vote in a warehouse in Alabama was too close to call and will be determined by a court hearing after the National Labor Relations Board accused Amazon of breaking labor laws. The union vote at another Staten Island warehouse is currently underway.