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It is a way to indicate that you are not asserting the label, somebody else is. So it is actually a very useful way to indicate uncertainty. Amazon has deep pockets, and people don't want to be sued.

Amazon's own spokesperson called them fake. From the article:

> “It appears that this is a fake account that violates Twitter’s terms,” the spokesperson said. “We’ve asked Twitter to investigate and take appropriate action.”

I wouldn't call that an expression of uncertainty, though. The fact that it is not clear who made the statement cannot be deduced from the quotes.

I'm not saying what you appear to think I am saying.

The author is making it clear that they are not the one who called the accounts fake. This implies uncertainty because if the accounts were objectively fake, there would be little need to add the quotation marks.

It’s a common practice in journalism. They’re not using scare quotes, but regular quotes. They’re avoiding asserting themselves that the accounts are fake, and instead, diverting the assertion to the quotee (Amazon in this case).

What is? I see quotes used this way in written communication fairly commonly.