A series of newly leaked documents shed light on the downsides of Uber’s early days. Dubbed Uber fileThe leak included about 124,000 internal company documents, including more than 83,000 emails and text messages exchanged between former CEO Travis Kalanick and other executives, between 2013 and 2015. 2017. Then marked the year Kalanick step down as Uber’s CEO amid growing controversy.
Work with International Association of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Guardians shared conversations with 180 journalists in 40 outlets across 29 countries. The documents show a company willing to do what many of its own executives consider “damn illegal.”
For example, in 2016, Kalanick reported ordered French employees to encourage local Uber drivers to protest the taxi strikes that were taking place in Paris at the time. When an executive warned Kalanick that “radical thugs” were part of the protest, the former CEO pushed back. “I think it’s worth it,” he said. “Violence Guaranteed[s] successful. And these guys must be resisted, no? “
A former senior executive told Guardians that Kalanick’s response is in line with its strategy of “weaponizing” drivers and a book the company has returned in other countries.
Another selection of documents details the length of time the company has evaded regulatory scrutiny. In at least 12 cases, Uber has asked employees at local offices in six countries, including France, the Netherlands and India, to use “off switches,” an internal tool the company uses. developed to protect its data.
“Press the kill switch ASAP,” Kalanick wrote in an email shared by washington articles. “Access has to be turned off in AMS,” he added, referring to the company’s Amsterdam office. In two cases involving Uber’s Montreal office, authorities entered the building only to see all the computers and tablets before they reset at once. The company recounts Post “Such software should never be used to obstruct legitimate regulatory actions,” and it discontinued the system in 2017.
“We have not and will not justify past practices that are clearly inconsistent with their current values,” said Jill Hazelbaker, senior vice president of public affairs and marketing at Uber. I. statement issuing company after Guardians published its findings on Uber Files. “Instead, we ask the public to judge us by what we have done in the past five years and what we will do in the years to come.”
In one statement published by the ICIJ, a spokesman for Travis Kalanick said any suggestion the former executive “directed, participated in, or was involved in” in “illegal or improper conduct” was ” completely untrue.”
“The fact that Uber’s expansion initiatives have been led by more than a hundred leaders in dozens of countries around the world, are always under direct supervision and with the full approval of the teams. Uber’s strong legal, policy and compliance,” they added.
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