New Delhi: In less than ten years, the brand Uber in India has evolved into a verb. It was formerly a Silicon Valley start-up and now has operations in 72 countries and is valued at $44 billion.
However, a leak reveals that its quick rise in several important worldwide markets is now being attributed to dodging rules, influencing lawmakers, and exploiting loopholes. The stolen “Uber Files,” which were obtained by The Guardian and provided to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), are said to contain 124,000 internal emails, text messages, and documents from Uber. Read More: Starbucks goes ‘DESI’, adds masala chai, filter coffee in menu
The leaked documents, which The India Express has also evaluated, are said to provide light on the term of the company’s previous CEO Travis Kalanick, who resigned in 2017 after claims that he fostered a toxic workplace and even ignored sexual harassment and gender discrimination at Uber. Leaked documents span the years 2013 through 2017. Read More: Attractive FD offers by major banks: PNB vs UCO Bank vs Union Bank of India vs Punjab and Sind Bank
One such file purportedly shows how Uber, rather of accepting responsibility for a driver suspected of raping a 25-year-old passenger in New Delhi in December 2014, blamed India’s “flawed” criminal database.
Remember that nothing is under your control and that occasionally we run into issues because, well, we’re just f***ing illegal, Uber’s communications director Nairi Hourdajian wrote in an email to a colleague after the incident that it appeared to cause panic within the India operation.
Additionally, it has been claimed that Uber has an internal strategy known as the “kill switch” to stop internal software in order to evade government raids. It entails Uber management receiving information about potential office raids and giving IT personnel the order to disable access to the company’s primary data systems. In essence, it hinders investigators from acquiring information.
According to The Guardian, Uber used this strategy at least 12 times during raids in Hungary, Romania, France, the Netherlands, and India. The Regional Transport Office conducted a search on its Bengaluru office in 2014, and a separate raid was conducted in July 2021 as a result of non-compliance accusations.
In a worldwide context, the exposed Uber documents show how the company collaborated closely with national authorities to undermine local taxi services. For instance, it is said that the papers demonstrate the friendship between CEO Travis Kalanick and French President Emmanuel Macron, who is said to have aided the business in France while serving as the minister of the economy. According to rumours, Macron “appears to have gone to exceptional lengths to promote Uber, even informing the firm he had arranged a secret “deal” with its rivals in the French cabinet.”
Uber’s former CEO allegedly urged his crew to disregard the safety of its drivers during taxi strikes and rioting in Paris, adding, “I think it’s worth it… Violence guarantee[s] success.”
In addition, it appears that Kalanick collaborated on the expansion of its activities with current US President Joe Biden and former Hamburg Mayor and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. According to the leaked documents, Biden even changed his scheduled speech at Davos after meeting with the former CEO to compliment Uber and the business for allowing drivers the “freedom to work as many hours as they wish, govern their own life as they wish.”
Uber acknowledged “mistakes and blunders” in the past in response to The Guardian’s revelation, but claimed to have changed since 2017. Dara Khosrowshahi now serves as the company’s CEO.
The leaks’ assertion was refuted by Kalanick’s spokeswoman, who added that he never advocated for Uber to profit from violence “at the expense of driver safety.”
For all the latest business News Click Here
