Uber’s less-than-supreme professional standards exposed

By Scoop
July 12, 2022 · less than 3 min read

A massive document leak has shown us the ugly underbelly of Uber.

The receipts, please

Across more than 124,000 leaked documents, the situation is clear – Uber’s been up to some super dodgy stuff. We’re talking lobbying world leaders. We’re talking hiding crucial data from police. We’re talking messages between execs acknowledging and celebrating the company’s illegal maneuvers.

This document leak covers 2013 to 2017 and includes a host of emails and messages between former CEO and Uber Co-Founder Travis Kalanick and his team. There’s been talk for years about the company’s less-than-ideal approach to ridesharing and taxi regulations when expanding into new areas. But there’s talk, and then there’s this.

Without diving headfirst into the docs and wasting years combing through them, it’s hard to imagine the scope of what’s been revealed. But we’ll give you the worst of the worst, and you’ll get the picture.

Kalanick predicts a riot (and he’s okay with it)

When the company launched in India and was met with taxi industry protests, Uber managers were told to “embrace the chaos” even when “fires start to burn.” During strikes and violent riots in Paris, drivers were sent in despite the risk. Kalanick said, “Violence guarantee[s] success. And these guys must be resisted, no?”

Need more? When police and regulatory officials wanted to clamp down on Uber’s regulation dodging, offices across the globe were raided by authorities. Uber developed a “kill switch” which cut access to the company’s data systems when a raid occurred, preventing evidence gathering. This “switch” was used at least 12 times in at least six countries.

A spokesperson for the former Uber CEO claimed the “kill switch” was a standard and common business protocol and nothing close to obstruction of justice, but let’s be real, it’s not a great look.

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