Although Amazon is its parent company, Twitch has
refused to run the anti-union ads aimed at Amazon Alabama warehouse workers, saying they violate its terms of service.
"Twitch does not allow political advertising, and these ads should never
have been allowed to run on our service," a Twitch spokesperson wrote in an email to Search & Performance Marketing Daily. "We have removed these ads and are evaluating our review
processes to ensure that similar content does not run in the future. We are grateful to our community for bringing this to our attention."
The ad discouraged Alabama workers from voting to
unionize. Twitch allows get out the vote ads, but not ones promoting specific political issues or fund-raising.
The live-streaming games
service removed the anti-union ads aimed at Amazon workers, although Bessemer, Alabama warehouse workers for Amazon are considering forming a union.
Workers at the Birmingham team responded with a video telling workers to vote no.
The ads were first reported by media outlet More Perfect Union. “We don't need anyone coming in and telling us what they want to give
us because basically we have everything we need,” a woman who appears to work for Amazon said in one video. “This is the only place I've seen that has benefits from day one.”
Another Amazon worker, who once worked as a union rep at the Los Angeles International Airport, said in a video that “all they want to do is take your money, they just take your money and
don't do anything for you.”
A source close told Forbes he ads got on Twitch through Amazon's programmatic ad serving platform, but it wasn't clear to the team who placed
the ad.
The video ads are one part of Amazon's campaign against the union. The company placed antiunion posters in the bathroom at the warehouse and sent out ant-union mass text messages to
workers, reported the Washington Post.
Amazon is only one major company involved in
unions. In early January, employees at Google's parent company, Alphabet, unionized. They called it Alphabet Workers Union, which now boasts more than 800 workers.
The union has pushed back in media, with actor Danny
Glover and Georgia politician Stacey Abrams encouraging workers to vote “yes.” Both talked about their
connection with the South and how their upbringings and parents gave them respect for unions.
Abrams said in a video
“as a long-time supporter of labor rights, I strongly support your efforts to form a union, and I urge each of you in favor of doing so.”