The Uber Files, comprising over 124,000 records, including 83,000 emails spanning 2013 to 2017 and several other conversations, have revealed how the American service provider lobbied with top government officials and tried to avoid getting caught by the police. The documents were leaked to the British newspaper The Guardian and also shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and several other media organisations.
The leaked documents reveal how Uber followed ethically questionable practices during its global expansion to rapidly become a global giant. The leaked documents span the 5 years period when Uber was run by its controversial co-founder Travis Kalanick. Kalanick was forced out of Uber in 2017 when shareholders had enough of the controversies plaguing Uber, including allegations of data breach and sexual harassment scandals.
Uber lobbied with government heads to push favourable laws
Emmanuel Macron, the current French President, was the Economy Minister when Travis Kalanick established contact with him and the leaks show that they were soon on a first-name basis. Paris was the scene of the first European launch of Uber and the leaks show that Macron went out of his way to help Uber grow.
In 2014, Uber launched Uberpop in France, a service where unlicensed drivers could pick up passengers at a much lower fare. This led to protests from the French Taxi drivers which even turned violent. However, in the wake of the violence, Kalanick said that “Violence guarantees success”, dismissing these violent protests.
Following the violent protests, Macron offered to help Uber by rewriting the country’s laws governing its other services excluding Uberpop. He even confirmed to Uber that he has brokered a deal with the opposition as well to help these reforms pass. Following that, Uber suspended its Uberpop service in the country while running its other operations.
The Uber Files also reveal Uber’s close relationship with European Commission vice-president Neelie Kroes, putting her in an apparent breach of rules governing commissioners’ conduct. Kroes was apparently also in talks to join Uber’s advisory board even before he left her position at the European regulator in November 2014.
The leaked emails reveal that Kroes called ministers and other members of the government in her native Netherlands to persuade them to back down during a raid on Uber’s Amsterdam office. During another raid a week later, Kroes again contacted a Dutch minister, and as per the email, “harassed” the head of the Dutch civil service.
The ‘kill switch’ to stop authorities from accessing Uber’s computers
Apart from lobbying with government officials and regulators to keep themselves safe from the police, Uber had also installed a “kill switch” to stop the authorities from accessing the company’s computers. The leaked Uber Files confirm the presence of the kill switch and also confirmed that Kalanick had used the switch at least once to thwart law enforcement agencies.
The kill switch was used in Amsterdam, Canada, Belgium, India, Romania, Hungary, and France as per the leaked files.
