The Uber company relied on aggressive international expansion, especially in the early days. E-mails and chats that have become public now provide insights into the tactics.
E-mails and chats from the ride-hailing service provider Uber from 2013 to 2017 that have become public provide deeper insights into the company’s aggressive business practices at the time. According to media reports based on internal communications on Monday, Uber tried to use clashes between taxi drivers and their chauffeurs for lobbying purposes and blocked computers remotely during government raids in European cities.
More than 124,000 documents such as e-mails and chat messages were leaked to the British newspaper “Guardian”. A former Uber manager revealed himself as the source after the publication. Mark McGann was a lobbyist for the car service broker in Europe. He decided to act as a whistleblower because he believed that Uber deliberately flouted the law. “I’m partly responsible,” he told the Guardian. He was the one who tried to convince governments and the public of the benefits of the Uber model. Now he has a guilty conscience: “We actually sold people a lie.”
Aggressive international expansion in early days
The documents come from a time when Uber was pursuing aggressive international expansion under co-founder and then-boss Travis Kalanick. In the early days, the company, which was founded in 2008, also tried to partially establish its US model in Europe, in which private individuals transport passengers in their own cars. After regulators intervened, Uber gave up the practice, but tensions with the taxi industry and authorities remained high for years. Since Dara Khosrowshahi took over the top job at Uber in 2017, the company has repeatedly distanced itself from its predecessor’s business practices.
The company said in a statement: “We have not and will not condone past behavior that is clearly inconsistent with our current values. Instead, we’re asking the public to judge us by what we’ve done over the past five years and what we will do in the years to come.”
Among other things, the documents document how Uber organized a large counter-demonstration after protests against the company in France in 2016, with “15,000 drivers” and “50,000 customers”, as Kalanick wrote in chat messages published by the “Washington Post”. He therefore downplayed the risk of possible aggressive behavior on the part of the other side: “If we have 50,000 passengers, they will not and cannot do anything.” At the same time, he seemed to take risks: “I think it’s worth it. Violence guarantees success.”
Uber manager Jill Hazelbaker wrote to the Washington Post: “There is much that our then boss said almost a decade ago that we would not condone today.” But nobody at Uber was ever happy about violence against a driver. Kalanick’s spokesman also said he never suggested that Uber capitalize on violence against drivers.
Reports: Controversial use of software tools documented
According to the reports, the documents also prove the controversial use of two software tools, which has been known for years. With a name called Greyball, regulators adjusted the display in the Uber app at the location so that no vehicles were displayed. With a “kill switch”, computers were switched off remotely during a raid on the Uber office in Amsterdam.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and more than 180 journalists from the media, including Le Monde, El País and the Washington Post, were involved in evaluating these so-called Uber files. In Germany, reporters from NDR, WDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung collaborated.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
