Leaked Uber docs reveal bare-knuckle expansion tactics: investigation

Uber has placed the blame on previously publicized 'mistakes' made by leadership under former CEO Travis Kalanick (pictured February 2018)

A leaked cache of confidential files from ride-sharing company Uber illustrates ethically dubious and potentially illegal tactics it used to fuel its frenetic global expansion beginning nearly a decade ago, a joint media investigation showed Sunday.

Dubbed the "Uber Files," the investigation involving dozens of news organizations found that company officials leveraged the sometimes violent backlash from the taxi industry against drivers to garner support and evaded regulatory authorities as it looked to conquer new markets early in its history.

The cache includes unvarnished text and email exchanges between executives, with standouts from co-founder and former chief executive Travis Kalanick, who was forced to resign in 2017 following accusations of brutal management practices and multiple episodes of sexual and psychological harassment at the company.

Uber's rapid expansion leaned on subsidized drivers and discounted fares that undercut the taxi industry, and "often without seeking licenses to operate as a taxi and livery service," reported The Washington Post, one of the media outlets involved in the probe.

According to the Guardian, Uber has adopted similar tactics in European countries including Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy, mobilizing drivers and encouraging them to complain to the police when they were victims of violence, in order to use media coverage to obtain concessions from the authorities.

Uber, however, placed the blame Sunday on previously publicized "mistakes" made by leadership under Kalanick. 

- 'Kill switch' -

It described an instance when Kalanick implemented a "kill switch" to remotely cut off access of devices in an Amsterdam office to Uber's internal systems during a raid by authorities. 

Kalanick spokesperson Devon Spurgeon said the former chief executive "never authorized any actions or programs that would obstruct justice in any country."

But the investigation charged that Uber's actions flouted laws and that executives were aware, citing one joking that they had become "pirates."

The company believed Macron would encourage regulators "to be 'less conservative' in their interpretation of rules limiting the company's operations," the Post said.

The revelations sparked indignation among leftist politicians, who denounced the Uber-Macron links as against "all our rules, all our social rights and against workers' rights," and condemned the "pillage of the country." 

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Originally published as Leaked Uber docs reveal bare-knuckle expansion tactics: investigation