Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
One of the big lessons of Amazon’s HQ2 debacle, at least from my perspective, was that the company can be weirdly tone-deaf. A purported nationwide search to find a home for a “second headquarters” looked, as soon as the company announced it had settled on New York and Washington, DC, as if it had been a ruse. New York pushed back, Amazon dropped its plans, and the entire episode has faded into memory.
But the public-relations apparatus responsible for managing Amazon’s relationship with our democracy has continued to undertake information operations designed to burnish its image. And this week, the world took notice.
Amazon has long faced criticism over the working conditions in its fulfillment centers, where workers strive to remain…