Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) is currently the top ride-hailing service on the planet, but, to get to that level of market domination, Uber used "stealth technology" to avoid regulation, extensive lobbying to weaken labor laws, and international tax havens to deflect tax liabilities, according to a report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
The ICIJ, a nonprofit network of reporters, investigations covered leaked communication between top Uber executives and world leaders and government officials from "nearly" 30 countries. The leaked documents include texts, emails, briefing notes, presentations, and invoices.
The majority of the acts and statements reported by the ICIJ involve Uber skirting regulations, investigations, and policies on workers' rights during its aggressive global expansion from 2013 to 2017.
As the company expanded, it reportedly used "tech smokescreens" to avoid investigations in Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Russia, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, and other countries. This included providing authorities with a fake version of the app and using "blackout geofences" to disable the app in certain locations, such as areas near police stations.
In case of an investigation, Uber also reportedly used a "kill switch" to hide sensitive data from authorities during raids. The kill switch was reportedly sometimes used while authorities were actively searching for evidence, and founder Travis Kalanick himself once issued a kill switch order in Amsterdam.
Other communications from Kalanick, who led Uber at the time, show that he was interested in using reports of violence against Uber drivers to gain public support, according to the ICIJ. Some of the communications also show executives discussing leaking reports of serious attacks to the media.
A spokesperson for Kalanick said that the tech executive had never suggested that his company "take advantage of violence at the expense of driver safety," the ICIJ reports.
To gain access to serving high-level officials, Uber hired a team of former public officials, including many former officials from the Obama Administration. These Uber representatives then asked serving officials to relax background check requirements for drivers, change labor rights policies, and drop probes against the company.
The ICIJ reports that Uber held more than 100 private meetings with public officials between 2014 and 2016, including meetings with at least six world leaders, three prime ministers, and then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
The report also includes information on Uber's methods for avoiding tax liabilities. While Uber services can be found in cities around the world, the company allegedly routes its profits through offshore jurisdictions like Bermuda, saving itself millions in taxes.
Meanwhile, the company reportedly assisted authorities with tax collection from their drivers in an effort to deflect from their own tax responsibilities.
Jill Hazelbaker, an Uber spokesperson, wrote a statement acknowledging that the company had made "mistakes" during its expansion and that those mistakes "culminated in one of the most infamous reckonings in the history of corporate America." Hazelbaker said that lawsuits, government investigations, and the ouster of Kalanick led to significant overhauls in the company's operations.
"It's also exactly why Uber hired a new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, who was tasked with transforming every aspect of how Uber operates," Hazelbaker wrote in the statement. "When we say Uber is a different company today, we mean it literally: 90 percent of current Uber employees joined after Dara became CEO."
However, Hazelbaker denies that a kill switch was ever used by the company and also says that Uber never condoned violence against its drivers.
"We have not and will not make excuses for past behavior that is clearly not in line with our present values," Hazelbaker wrote. "Instead, we ask the public to judge us by what we've done over the last five years and what we will do in the years to come," Hazelbaker continues.