Uber Used Political Influence to Go Global, Leaked Documents Say

• The report says Uber and an advisory firm compiled lists of more than 1,850 ‘stakeholders’—sitting and former public officials, etc.—it had hoped to influence in 29 countries and the EU.

• The documents show then-CEO Travis Kalanick messaging Uber executives in Europe to take advantage of a violent strike by French taxi drivers protesting competition from Uber in January 2016.

• Kalanick also ordered “kill-switches” for company servers in each local headquarters to prevent authorities from seizing evidence from the offices.

Leaked Uber documents show how the company used political influence to expand its business worldwide in the last decade. But Uber blames its co-founder and sacked CEO Travis Kalanick, while Kalanick blames it on his underlings from that time.

Old news or not, the political tactics will affect the future of urban mobility as Uber continues to crush traditional taxicab businesses in major cities around the world. Whether you continue to drive your own car or not, you will likely have to choose between a cab and a ride-sharing service as congestion pricing and traffic limits soon expand beyond London, Singapore, Rome, and Stockholm, to New York, Paris, and other cities.

Michael McCann, Uber’s lobbyist in Europe, the Middle East and Africa from 2013-17, leaked more than 124,000 Uber documents to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), and they were published this month. The documents show “attempts to lobby [then-Vice President] Joe Biden, [future German Chancellor] Olaf Sholz and [former British member of parliament] George Osborne,” according to The Guardian.

“To spread its message, Uber and an advisory firm compiled lists of more than 1,850 ‘stakeholders’—sitting and former public officials, think tanks and citizen groups—it had hoped to influence in 29 countries and the EU,” the ICIJ report says.

The documents show then-CEO Travis Kalanick messaging Uber executives in Europe to take advantage of a violent strike by French taxi drivers protesting competition from Uber in January 2016.

“If we have 50,000 riders they can’t and won’t do anything,” Kalanick wrote of the cab drivers. “I think it’s worth it. Violence guarantee(s) success. And these guys must be resisted, no?”

Kalanick also ordered “kill-switches” for company servers in each local headquarters to prevent authorities from seizing evidence from the offices.