VOSS Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 Quote A leaked trove of confidential files has revealed the inside story of how the tech giant Uber flouted 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. Leaked messages suggest Uber executives were at the same time under no illusions about the company’s law-breaking, with one executive joking they had become “pirates” and another conceding: “We’re just ******* illegal.” The cache of files, which span 2013 to 2017, includes more than 83,000 emails, iMessages and WhatsApp messages, including often frank and unvarnished communications between Kalanick and his top team of executives. In one exchange, 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. “I think it’s worth it,” he shot back. “Violence guarantee success.” In a statement, Kalanick’s spokesperson said he “never suggested that Uber should take advantage of violence at the expense of driver safety” and any suggestion he was involved in such activity would be completely false. The leak also contains texts between Kalanick and Emmanuel Macron, who secretly helped the company in France when he was economy minister, allowing Uber frequent and direct access to him and his staff. Macron, the French president, appears to have gone to extraordinary lengths to help Uber, even telling the company he had brokered a secret “deal” with its opponents in the French cabinet. Privately, Uber executives expressed barely disguised disdain for other elected officials who were who were less receptive to the company’s business model. After the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who was mayor of Hamburg at the time, pushed back against Uber lobbyists and insisted on paying drivers a minimum wage, an executive told colleagues he was “a real comedian”. When the then US vice-president, Joe Biden, a supporter of Uber at the time, was late to a meeting with the company at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Kalanick texted a colleague: “I’ve had my people let him know that every minute late he is, is one less minute he will have with me.” After meeting Kalanick, Biden appears to have amended his prepared speech at Davos to refer to a CEO whose company would give millions of workers “freedom to work as many hours as they wish, manage their own lives as they wish”. More here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nathanspears Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 Wtf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kékette Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 Emmanuel Macron dans la sauce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TROPICUM Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 And that’s why Lyft >>> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blade Runner Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 (edited) And then you see these f+ckers in Forbes, TIME and sh+t talking about how they achieved their goals and made their success possible through hard work, intellect and commitment. Pathetic. Edited July 10, 2022 by Blade Runner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hurem Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 Y’all getting mad at news like this as if our opinion has any value Rich people gonna do whatever they wanna do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATRL Moderator feelslikeadream Posted July 10, 2022 ATRL Moderator Share Posted July 10, 2022 Not the OP trying to redact half the quote. We can still see the truth!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TROPICUM Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 4 minutes ago, feelslikeadream said: Not the OP trying to redact half the quote. We can still see the truth!!!!! They’re working for Uber i fear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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