More than 180 journalists at 40 media outlets including the Guardian, Le Monde, the Washington Post and the BBC have collaborated on a series of investigative reports about how Uber’s ruthless tactics helped it to gain a foothold in crucial cities around the world.
The Guardian’s print edition and website front pages lead with the story under the headline “The Uber files: Leak reveals secret lobbying operation to conquer the world”, and report how the company “broke rules, duped police and put pressure on politicians to allow its regulation-busting service to flourish”.
Guardian front page, Monday 11 July 2022 - The Uber files: Leak reveals secret lobbying operation to conquer the world pic.twitter.com/04oRUBjgjb
— The Guardian (@guardian) July 10, 2022
The Washington Post leads its website on the investigation with the headline “Uber used covert tech to thwart government probes and advance its ambitions”. It goes on to detail how officials entered Uber’s offices in Amsterdam only to see computers “go dark before their eyes” thanks to the startup’s use of a so-called “kill switch” that disabled devices and blocked regulatory work.
In Canada, the Toronto Star also reports on the “kill switch” and what is says was “driver exploitation”.
In Spain, El País runs the story on its front page with the headline “Una filtración masiva revela malas prácticas de Uber” (“A massive leak reveals Uber’s bad practices”).
🗞 #Portada | Los socios exigirán a Sánchez un giro a la izquierda; Una filtración masiva revela malas prácticas de Uber; Djokovic gana a Kyrgios y conquista su 21º grande, en EL PAÍS este lunes 11 de julio de 2022
— EL PAÍS (@el_pais) July 10, 2022
🔗 https://t.co/ZSPik7SKUJ pic.twitter.com/vXZwZwepDL
Le Monde reports that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, struck a “secret deal” with Uber to pave the way for the company in France when he was economy minister.
The English-language Indian Express reports that Uber’s local boss told the team to “embrace the chaos” as they tried to establish the business, a theme that runs through much of the investigation.
#UberFiles: How Uber took systems for a ride, used its tech to drive past law | Ritu Sarin, @RTIExpress @mohanreports report
— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) July 10, 2022
An Indian Express Investigation in collaboration with @ICIJorg, @guardianhttps://t.co/qdIUNZ9XmV
Süddeutsche Zeitung reports on how Uber employed “wild west” methods to clear its way, but also relied on positive publicity about the company.
The Spanish television channel La Sexta highlights Uber’s tactic of bypassing regulators, or what it called the “pyramid of shit”, and instead engendering a sense of chaos in the cities where it wanted to launch.
🔴 Exclusiva mundial: descubrimos la "pirámide de mierda" (sic) de Uber en los #UberFiles.
— laSexta (@laSextaTV) July 10, 2022
➡ En lugar de pasar por los trámites burocráticos, Uber apostó por una estrategia para crear caos regulatorio y malestar social de los que se aprovechaban
https://t.co/aHKLUEyBXP
L’«Operation Renzi» in Italia. I favori di Macron in Francia. Gli incontri con Biden e Netanyahu. 124 mila documenti svelano i segreti di Uber.
— L'Espresso (@espressonline) July 10, 2022
L'inchiesta #UberFiles de L’Espresso e @ICIJorg
E domenica prossima i particolari sulle operazioni italiane https://t.co/m934ni00sp
The Belgian paper De Tijd says the files have exposed what it calls Uber’s “dark practices” as it “pulled out all the stops” to get a foothold in the country, including allegedly employing private detectives to spy on “competitors in Brussels, infiltrating mystery shoppers who worked for the government, and sabotaging a house search by the courts”.
Uber Files ontmaskeren duistere praktijken van Uber in België https://t.co/1LFFGWmUWI
— De Tijd (@tijd) July 10, 2022
Direkt36 tells how Uber was facing some government pushback against its nascent operation in Hungary so began to search for a lobbyist who could “open doors” in Viktor Orbán’s administration. However, despite engineering a meeting with a minister, the engagement was cancelled and Uber finally withdrew from what it called a “shitshow” in the Hungarian market.
In Colombia, El Diario says Uber “carried out ethically questionable practices to position itself in the main cities of the world”, according to the leaked documents.
#10Jul | La empresa Uber realizó prácticas éticamente cuestionables para posicionarse en las principales ciudades del mundo, de acuerdo con una filtración del Consorcio Internacional de Periodistas de Investigación.
— El Diario (@eldiario) July 10, 2022
📰: @elmundoes pic.twitter.com/j8a1R0FIjW
The Estonian newspaper Eesti Päevaleht promotes its coverage at the top of its website and says the Uber files reveal the “behind-the-scenes” story of the company’s Estonian lobby operation.
