A leak of thousands of files has shown how Uber, the transport company, courted top politicians and how far it went to avoid justice and revealed French President Emmanuel Macron's involvement.
The documents also show how the company's former boss personally ordered the use of a "kill switch" to prevent raiding police from accessing computers. Uber said that its "past behavior wasn't in line with present values" and that it is now a "different company."
Leaked Conversations
The company's leaked files are a treasure trove of 124,000 records that include 83,000 emails and 1,000 other files such as conversations from 2013 to 2017. The documents were shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and a number of media organizations.
For the first time, they reveal how a $90 million per year lobbying and public relations effort recruited friendly politicians to help in its campaign to disrupt Europe's taxi industry. At the time when French taxi drivers staged protests, some of which became violent, in the streets against Uber, Macron was on first-name terms with Uber's boss, Travis Kalanick, as per BBC.
The French president, who was the economy minister at the time, told the controversial Uber boss that he would reform laws that would help the company thrive. The transport company's ruthless business methods were widely known to the public but the leaked documents are the first to show a unique inside view of the lengths it went to achieve its goals.
Taking Advantage of the Chaos
According to The Guardian, Uber thrived by seducing drivers and passengers onto the app with incentives and pricing models that would not be sustainable. The transport company undercut established taxi and cab markets and put pressure on governments to rewrite laws to help pave the way for an app-based. gig-economy model of work that has since proliferated worldwide.
During a bid to quell the fierce backlash against the company and win changes to taxi and labor laws, Uber planned to spend $90 million in 2016 on lobbying and public relations. The strategy often involved going over the heads of mayors and transport authorities and straight to the seat of power.
When the situation evolved into taxi strikes and riots in Paris, Kalanich ordered French executives to retaliate by encouraging Uber drivers to stage a counter-protest with mass civil disobedience. He was warned that doing so risked exposing the company's drivers to attacks from "extreme right thugs" who had infiltrated the taxi protests and were "spoiling for a fight."
However, Kalanick appeared to urge his team to press ahead regardless, saying that he thought the result would be "worth it." In one leaked document, the former Uber boss said that "violence guarantee[s] success."
"Kill Switch"
The leaked documents also showed that the transport company used a "kill switch" to prevent law enforcement from conducting legal regulatory actions. It was something used when an Uber office was raided by police and executives sent out instructions to IT staff to cut off access to the company's main data systems, preventing authorities from gathering evidence.
In response to the leaked files, Uber said, "We have not and will not make excuses for past behavior that is clearly not in line with our present values. Instead, we ask the public to judge us by what we've done over the last five years and what we will do in the years to come," City AM reported.
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