A database of more than 124,000 leaked Uber files covering about 40 countries was disclosed by former senior executive Mark MacGann and published by The Guardian and the ICIJ on July 10, 2022. The documents described a lobbying campaign targeting figures including Emmanuel Macron, George Osborne, Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz, and other national leaders. They indicated that Macron, while France’s economy minister, privately helped Uber pursue expansion and claimed to broker a cabinet deal; Macron later said he was proud to have supported the company and would do so again. The files also described a media influence effort and alleged that contractor Avisa Partners published 19 fake articles on 13 websites in late 2014 while UberPop faced legal scrutiny in France.
The disclosures further showed senior executives’ awareness of systems intended to obstruct or evade enforcement. Greyball presented selected targets, including local police, with a fake app showing cars that would not arrive; Uber said it stopped using the tool in 2017. During raids in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, India, Hungary, and Romania, executives including Travis Kalanick and Zac de Kievit ordered IT staff to cut authorities’ access to company systems. Uber said the switches protected intellectual property and privacy and did not permanently delete data, while Dutch authorities fined de Kievit €750 for non-compliance with an official order. The files also documented Kalanick dismissing driver-safety concerns during a violent French taxi protest and allegations that drivers were pushed into unsafe, poorly paid conditions. Kalanick denied authorizing obstruction or sacrificing driver safety; the revelations prompted calls for parliamentary scrutiny and intensified European debate over platform-worker protections.
