Uber’s Heart of Darkness

Spying on rivals, digging dirt on enemies, stealing information from competitors and rampant harassment: not the activities of a despotic government but everyday events at Uber, the revolutionary ride-hailing app.

Uber may be a darling of Silicon Valley and a popular app for millions of users but its culture has, in the past, been toxic.

Under its hot-headed former chief executive, Travis Kalanick, Uber developed a reputation for dirty tricks that might surprise many of its loyal fans.

Take, for example, the company’s reaction to an allegation that one of its drivers in India had raped a female passenger. After the incident Uber sent Eric Alexander, its president of Asia Pacific, to India to investigate. He obtained the victim’s medical records, which were then shared with Kalanick and another Uber executive.

The Uber trio reportedly used the records to cast doubt on the victim’s story and claim that it was part of a conspiracy by a rival firm. It subsequently emerged that the Uber driver had been facing four criminal charges, including rape, when he attacked the woman.

The victim’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, criticised the Uber bosses for their behaviour: “Sadly, these views, coupled with the scrutiny of private medical records support rape culture and must end.” But this is only the tip of the misbehaviour iceberg at Uber. A whistleblower claimed last year that Kalanick had fostered a toxic culture at Uber and this had led to a rampant sexual harassment and discrimination within the company.

A subsequent investigation by the law firm Perkins Coie looked at 215 reports of harassment, bullying and other workplace issues. Twenty employees were fired and a further 31 were required to attend training. Uber also hired former US Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate its workplace practises after the harassment issue became public.

But it is Uber’s use of private investigators to dig up dirt on enemies that has concerned many, including the courts.

According to claims by another Uberwhistleblower, the company had an internal team dedicated to dirty tricks including spying on rivals and “impeding” legal investigations into the company.

According to a letter written by Richard Jacobs, a former member of Uber’s investigative team, the company deployed technologies to conceal corporate documents so they could not be found as part of a legal discovery process. The company also allegedly used intrusive investigations to get information on politicians, regulators, competitors and activists.

Executives from rival firms were spied on and video footage of them was sent back to Uber’s “war room” so the CEO Travis Kalanick could observe.

According to recent reports, Uber also launched a campaign to target an executive at a potential investor after he and Kalanick fell out during a meeting.

Uber executives reportedly met with a team from SoftBank in December 2014 to ask the Japanese company to invest. The meeting turned ugly and Kalanick allegedly shouted and threatened SoftBank’sNikeshArora.

Subsequently, Swiss private investigators started digging into Arora and an anonymous campaign was launched against him. Arora stepped down from his role at SoftBank in 2016.

Uber also used private investigators to dig up dirt on Spencer R. Meyer, a Yale University conservationist. Meyer was seeking to bring a class-action lawsuit against Uber accusing the company of price fixing – a claim it has denied.

Uber hired a company called Ergo to dig into the backgrounds of Meyer and his attorney Andrew Schmidt. By misrepresenting what they were doing, the investigators were able to talk to 28 people who knew Meyer.

When this activity came to light, the Federal judge in the case, Jed S. Rakoff, said: “The court cannot help but be troubled by this whole dismal incident… The purpose of the investigation was to try to unearth derogatory personal information about Mr Meyer and his counsel that could then be used to try to intimidate them or to prejudice the court against them.”

The culture at Uber became so toxic that investors feared the company could be seriously damaged. A number of cities have already turned against Uber including London, which has threatened to ban Uber for not being “fit and proper” to operate in the city.

In response, Uber has started to clean up its act. Travis Kalanick stood down as chief executive last year and a new board of directors has been put in place. The hope is that they can rebuild trust in the revolutionary app and overcome some of Uber’s dark history.