Uber broke laws, duped police and secretly lobbied governments, leak reveals

[Mary Wilson]

Mon 11 Jul 2022 12.11 EDT

by Harry Davies, Simon Goodley, Felicity Lawrence, Paul Lewis and Lisa O'Carroll

A leaked trove of confidential files has revealed the inside story of how the tech giant Uberflouted laws, duped police, exploited violence against drivers and secretly lobbied governments during its aggressive global expansion.

The unprecedented leak to the Guardian of more than 124,000 documents – known as the Uber files – lays bare the ethically questionable practices that fuelled the company’s transformation into one of Silicon Valley’s most famous exports.

The leak spans a 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.

During the fierce global backlash, the data shows how Uber tried to shore up support by discreetly courting prime ministers, presidents, billionaires, oligarchs and media barons. ...

https://www.theguardian.com/news/202...bying-campaign

[Emily]

https://www.theguardian.com/news/202...-firm-to-world
The Uber campaign: how ex-Obama aides helped sell firm to world
Uber sought access to leaders, officials and diplomats through David Plouffe and Jim Messina, leak shows

Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Felicity Lawrence and Johana Bhuiyan
Sun 10 Jul 2022 12.00 EDT

• Uber broke laws, duped police and built secret lobbying operation, leak reveals

It was a Sunday afternoon in early November 2015 when David Plouffe emailed his fellow former Barack Obama campaigner Matthew Barzun, typing “Mr ambassador” in the subject line.

Plouffe was working for Uber, and Barzun had been rewarded for his fundraising efforts for the US president with the plum job of American ambassador to the UK...