The Los Angeles Post

Uber’s secret lobbying meetings

by · Published · Updated

Ride-hailing app Uber secretly lobbied prominent politicians in countries across the world — including the current leaders of the United States, France and Germany — to achieve its regulatory and political goals, according to leaked internal company files released over the weekend.

 

The “Uber Files” — which include emails, text messages and other documents from 2013 to 2017 obtained by The Guardian and shared with dozens of other media outlets — detail an extensive lobbying network that included many former aides to top political figures in the U.S. and other countries as Uber sought to expand its operations across the globe.

  • In many regions, governments tightly regulated taxi licenses, making Uber’s expansion plans a major disruptor to traditional industry rules.
  • The reports reveal how Uber broke through those obstacles by leveraging its lobbyists to win over figures such as President Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the company’s goals when the men were in lower political offices.

In all, the leaked documents revealed more than 100 meetings with public officials from 18 countries and European Union institutions.

Mark MacGann, Uber’s former head of public policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has come forward as the whistleblower who leaked the “Uber Files,” more than 124,000 internal documents revealing evidence of the ride-hailing giant’s misconduct.

 

MacGann, who leaked the files to The Guardian, said in an interview with the outlet on Monday that he did so because “I am partly responsible” for what he believes to be unethical and illegal activity from the company.

 

“I was the one talking to governments, I was the one pushing this with the media, I was the one telling people that they should change the rules because drivers were going to benefit and people were going to get so much economic opportunity,” MacGann said.

 

Uber attempted to carve out space for itself by battling taxi drivers and regulators in more than 40 countries, sometimes persuading government officials to join the fight, MacGann said.