When the trove of confidential files about Uber was published on Sunday evening, the true extent of the tech giant’s ruthless methods was revealed. The leaked documents exposed the mercenary tactics Uber used to lay the groundwork for its empire and to bulldoze its ride-hailing service into cities around the world. From 2014 to 2017, the company duped police, lobbied governments and may have broken laws. One senior Uber executive even told the Guardian the company had a strategy of “weaponising” drivers and exploiting violence against them in order to “keep the controversy burning”.
These revelations may be shocking to anyone who uses Uber. But they were less surprising to Uber drivers. Since the Uber files were published, the company has said that these behaviours are now in the past. In a public statement responding to the Uber papers, Jill Hazelbaker, the company’s senior vice-president of public affairs, wrote that Uber was now a “different company”.
