{"id":216588,"date":"2022-07-18T12:00:52","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=216588"},"modified":"2022-07-13T06:36:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T05:36:18","slug":"the-uber-files-124000-leaked-files-expose-global-dirty-dealings-of-ride-hailing-giant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/07\/the-uber-files-124000-leaked-files-expose-global-dirty-dealings-of-ride-hailing-giant\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;The Uber Files&#8217;: 124,000+ Leaked Files Expose Global Dirty Dealings of Ride-Hailing Giant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"block\">\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"headline__field-subtitle text-lg tracking-tighter leading-tightest\"><strong><em>Internal documents reveal how company &#8220;won access to world leaders, cozied up to oligarchs and dodged taxes amid chaotic global expansion.&#8221;<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_216589\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Uber-Files-Backseat-logo.webp\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-216589\" class=\"wp-image-216589\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Uber-Files-Backseat-logo-1024x370.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Uber-Files-Backseat-logo-1024x370.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Uber-Files-Backseat-logo-300x108.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Uber-Files-Backseat-logo-768x277.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Uber-Files-Backseat-logo.webp 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-216589\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;The Uber Files,&#8221; according to the ICIJ is the &#8220;secret story of how the tech giant won access to world leaders, cozied up to oligarchs and dodged taxes amid chaotic global expansion.&#8221; Under Sunday, a consortium of journalists published the first batch of reporting based on over 124,000 leaked documents from inside the ride-hailing company.<br \/>(Photo: Stefano Montesi &#8211; Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><em>10 Jul 2022 &#8211; <\/em><strong>Over 124,000 internal corporate<\/strong> files and documents, including private communications between top executives, are the basis of new reporting published today dubbed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/07\/the-uber-files\/\" >&#8220;The Uber Files&#8221;<\/a>\u2014a detailed look at the ride-hailing juggernaut that aggressively lobbied governments around the world to ease regulations and pass legislation friendly to the company&#8217;s bottom line but often harmful to traditional taxi rivals and its own drivers.First obtained by <em>The Guardian<\/em> newspaper in the U.K. and subsequently shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the trove of documents offers a damning picture of the U.S.-based tech company that revolutionized ride-hailing with a smartphone app that allowed independent drivers to become instant taxi cab drivers.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.icij.org\/investigations\/uber-files\/uber-global-rise-lobbying-violence-technology\/\" >According<\/a> to the ICIJ:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>As it grew from scrappy Silicon Valley startup to a world-conquering multi-billion dollar operation, Uber promoted itself as a leader of the digital revolution.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>But the tech company pushed its agenda the old-fashioned way. Uber\u2019s scandals and missteps in the United States, from its spying on government officials to its leaks of executive misconduct, have been the subject of books, TV series and newspaper investigations.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Now, a new leak of records reveal the inside story of how the ride-hailing giant\u2019s executives muscled into new markets, then managed the fallout, spending gobs of cash on a global influence machine deployed to win favors from politicians, regulators and other leaders, who were often eager to lend a hand.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>The Guardian<\/em> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/2022\/jul\/10\/uber-files-leak-reveals-global-lobbying-campaign\" >reports <\/a>how the extensive leak of data &#8220;lays bare the ethically questionable practices that fueled the company\u2019s transformation into one of Silicon Valley\u2019s most famous exports.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The newspaper says the files cover the &#8220;five-year period when Uber was run by its co-founder Travis Kalanick, who tried to force the cab-hailing service into cities around the world, even if that meant breaching laws and taxi regulations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"align-center py-4 d-flex justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 lazyloaded\" data-youtube=\"zda6BaNq-FI\" data-sizes=\"auto\">\n<p>httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zda6BaNq-FI<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Episodes detailed in the reporting include ruthless behavior of Kalanick who appeared less concerned with the well-being of Uber drivers than securing the company&#8217;s ability to operate in new cities or countries.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Kalanick dismissed concerns from other executives that sending Uber drivers to a protest in France put them at risk of violence from angry opponents in the taxi industry. \u201cI think it\u2019s worth it,\u201d he shot back. \u201cViolence guarantee[s] success.\u201d<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PAmu4U3Dnn\" >https:\/\/t.co\/PAmu4U3Dnn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jacob Silverman (@SilvermanJacob) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SilvermanJacob\/status\/1546172575688138752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >July 10, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Gig Workers Rising, a collective of workers operating in the gig economy, said the leak shows how ruthless Uber was with Kalanick at the helm, but that the company continues to mistreat its drivers:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Uber trying to spin this as a story that they&#39;ve changed now because Travis is gone, but that&#39;s a complete fabrication. They still don&#39;t treat workers with dignity and respect, and continue to break many laws with impunity. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/UberFiles?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#UberFiles<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xHt93yLVNn\" >https:\/\/t.co\/xHt93yLVNn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Gig Workers Rising (@GigWorkersRise) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GigWorkersRise\/status\/1546224711746564096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >July 10, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Responding to the first batch of reporting on the files\u2014with much more expected in the coming days\u2014Sandeep Vaheesan, legal director of the Open Markets Institute, a think tank focused on corporate power and monopolies, called it a &#8220;damning report on Uber&#8217;s predatory methods of competition and growth, which antitrust enforcers here and abroad unfortunately aided and abetted because &#8216;innovation.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>___________________________________________________<\/p>\n<div class=\"block\">\n<div class=\"text-center text-tiny mb-4\"><em>Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2022\/07\/10\/uber-files-124000-leaked-files-expose-global-dirty-dealings-ride-hailing-giant\" >Go to Original &#8211; commondreams.org<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>10 Jul 2022 &#8211; Internal documents reveal how company &#8220;won access to world leaders, cozied up to oligarchs and dodged taxes amid chaotic global expansion.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":216589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[1009,232,550,1563,2695,1678,461,1059,2892,921],"class_list":["post-216588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whistleblowing-surveillance","tag-big-tech","tag-capitalism","tag-corruption","tag-expose","tag-international-consortium-of-investigative-journalists","tag-investigative-journalism","tag-technology","tag-transnational-corporations","tag-uber","tag-whistleblowing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}