How do we know? Twitter, of course.
Update: And there’s your answer, as of 11:30PM — fake account. We now return to your regularly scheduled cat GIFs.
The original article follows below:
Guess who’s going around following a bunch of verified Twitter accounts including Amazon US, UK and Amazon Prime Now?
We’re coming #amazonau
— AmazonAU (@amazon_au) March 21, 2017
Of course, this brand new @amazon_au account isn’t verified by Twitter, but presumably that’s just a formality — and in any case, even if it were verified, that doesn’t necessarily confirm the veracity of said Twitterings. I’m verified, and I’m awful at Twitter. So verification isn’t really a big deal.
In any case, we’ve reached out to Amazon’s various local PR arms — for Video, Audible, Kindle and AWS — to confirm the real realness of the account, as well as Twitter itself. We’ll let you know. The account was set up by someone using a Gmail account, which is definitely odd, but not unheard of, especially if it’s being done by a local PR team in advance of any actual local expansion.
Stand down people, false alarm. #amazonau pic.twitter.com/QqM6qLBbcV
— Toby Nieboer (@tcn33) March 21, 2017
It’s worth keeping in mind that other regional Amazon arms — like Amazon UK — use the @AmazonUK naming convention on Twitter, rather than the Amazon_AU convention of this account. @AmazonAU is already taken, but by an inactive account that mostly tweeted about books in its two years of activity.
What does sway the weight of evidence some distance in favour of Amazon launching a retail arm — whether it’s online shopping or physical retail spaces — into Australia, though, is a few job postings on the company’s job site. In the listing for an ‘optical network operations manager’, Amazon Retail is mentioned as a reason for the role’s advertisement.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2017/03/experts-believe-amazon-will-destroy-australian-retail/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/amazon-410×231.jpg” title=”Experts Believe Amazon Will Destroy Australian Retail” excerpt=”Expert analysis has predicted a shocking result for Australian retailers within the first five years of Amazon entering the local market. We’re talking major losses for JB Hi-Fi, Myer and Harvey Norman.”]
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2017/03/gerry-harvey-wants-australia-to-ban-amazon-like-donald-trump-not-letting-the-muslims-in/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Harvey-410×231.jpg” title=”Gerry Harvey Wants Australia To Ban Amazon ‘Like Donald Trump Not Letting The Muslims In’” excerpt=”Gerry Harvey has a long history of complaining about things, particularly when it comes the protection of brick and mortar retail. But this might be his most bizarre rant yet.”]
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2016/11/amazon-will-launch-its-own-supermarkets-and-online-shopping-in-australia/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/iStock_89925131_1080-410×231.jpg” title=”Amazon Will Launch Its Own Supermarkets And Online Shopping In Australia” excerpt=”One of the world’s biggest retailers, Amazon, is on track to launch bricks and mortar grocery stores and an online supermarket in Australia within two years.”]