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The release of several confidential files has revealed the inside story of how tech giant Uber broke laws, deceived police, exploited drivers and secretly lobbied governments during its aggressive global expansion.
The company Uber connected with high politicians and went to great lengths to avoid justice.
The documents detail the extensive help Uber received from leaders such as Emmanuel Macron and former EU commissioner Neelie Kroes.
They also show how the former boss of the taxi firm personally ordered the use of a so-called “kill key” to prevent police from accessing the computers.
The information released about Uber includes more than 124,000 records, including 83,000 emails and another 1,000 files that include conversations, spanning from 2013 to 2017.
They were discovered by The Guardian and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and a number of media organisations, including the BBC.
The files reveal, for the first time, how a $90 million lobbying and public relations effort recruited politicians to help in its campaign to disrupt Europe’s taxi industry.
As French taxi drivers staged violent street protests against Uber, Macron – now president – appeared to be the first to reach out to Uber boss Travis Kalanick to tell him he would reform laws in favor of the firm.
Uber’s ruthless business methods were widely known, but for the first time the files give a unique inside look at the lengths it goes to to achieve its goals.
They show how former EU digital commissioner Neelie Kroes, one of Brussels’ most senior officials, was in talks to join Uber before the end of her term – and then secretly lobbied for the firm, in possible violation of EU ethics rules.
At the time, Uber wasn’t just one of the fastest-growing companies in the world — it was one of the most controversial, plagued by lawsuits, sexual harassment allegations and data breach scandals.
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