Uber Cabs Lobbied Politicians, Broke Laws in Global Push: Reports
Uber cabs attempted to lobby politicians and flouted laws as part of efforts to expand globally from 2013 to 2017, according to newspaper reports based on leaked documents.
Uber Technologies allegedly received assistance in its efforts from politicians including French President Emmanuel Macron, reports from outlets including the Guardian and Le Monde said. The so-called “Uber Files” -- based on more than 124,000 documents shared with the non-profit International Consortium of Investigative Journalists -- cover a period of time when co-founder Travis Kalanick was chief executive officer and detail the lengths to which the company sought to expand into key cities like Paris.
In a statement released shortly after the reports were published, Uber didn’t deny any of the allegations and instead focused on the changes that have been made since Dara Khosrowshahi was named CEO in 2017.
“There has been no shortage of reporting on Uber’s mistakes prior to 2017,” the San Francisco-based company said in a statement. “Thousands of stories have been published, multiple books have been written -- there’s even been a TV series.”
Uber said that Khosrowshahi has transformed the company, making safety a top priority.
“When we say Uber is a different company today, we mean it literally: 90% of current Uber employees joined after Dara became CEO,” according to the statement.
Uber’s aggressive tactics as it took on the taxi industry have been reported on for years. Bloomberg News reported in 2018 that the company had deployed a remote system to prevent police from obtaining internal data during raids.
Macron’s Role
French newspaper Le Monde reported on text messages between Kalanick and Macron while he was finance minister. There were a total of four
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