

Who Leaked the Massive Information?
The individual who supplied 18.69 GB of Uber's internal data to The Guardian is Mark MacGann, the head of Uber's lobbying department in the European market. Over 124,000 documents, including emails, messages, and internal company data. The 52-year-old Irishman served as Uber's lobbyist from 2014 to 2016, engaging with governments and parliaments across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.This person is responsible for managing Uber's wildly aggressive global expansion process, where the startup violated traffic laws in many countries. Five years after resigning, MacGann decided to speak out to expose Uber's serious wrongdoing.He told The Guardian that from lobbying governments to change laws in favor of Uber to defending those actions as being 'for the financial benefit of drivers,' it was all deceitful.'In most countries where I worked for Uber, the law prohibits the existence and operation of such a ride-hailing service. Uber's modus operandi is simple: no need for permission, just operate, run fast, recruit drivers, do marketing, and people will quickly realize how amazing Uber is.'
Lobbying, Playing with Presidents
In mid-2015, taxi drivers in France staged protests and strikes in Marseille. They set fires, overturned cars, blocked roads to train stations and airports. The focal point of this protest was opposition to the Uber ride-hailing app. Taxi drivers argued that Uber was breaking the law in France and threatening the livelihoods of taxi drivers. Following clashes between taxi drivers and Uber drivers, on October 20, 2015, France temporarily suspended Uber's ride-hailing service. To resolve this, Mark MacGann sought the help of a young politician, then France's Minister of Economy, Industry, and Digital Affairs: Emmanuel Macron.


Investor money burning to lure drivers and 'buy revenue'
Abdurzak Hadi, an Uber driver in the UK, left his homeland of Somalia for asylum in the UK as a teenager, and at the age of 44, he quit his taxi job to sign up as an Uber driver. Initially, Uber offered huge bonuses to drivers, and £50 for any passenger who successfully referred friends to become drivers. They used billions of dollars from investors to compete with rivals and attract drivers, thereby dominating the ride-hailing market.But soon, Hadi's earnings dwindled. The more Uber cars there were, the longer the wait times between Hadi's rides became. Then they increased the fee they charged drivers from 20 to 25%. There were times when Hadi estimated he had to work 14 hours straight just to earn the amount he used to make in just 5 hours at the beginning. By 2015, Hadi found his income so low that his family could qualify for government benefits.
- In October 2014 in Madrid, an Uber driver was paid $17.50 per hour, while the fare users paid was only half of that, $9.10.
- In Berlin, drivers earned $10.20 per hour, while the fare was $2.20 per hour.

Paying academics to write studies beneficial to Uber
In addition to lobbying and working with heads of state, from 2014 to 2015, when Uber was targeted by authorities in many countries for regulation, the startup poured tons of money into academic researchers to produce economic studies, using Uber-provided data to paint a more favorable picture for them. At times, Uber poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into scientists and think tanks to create scientific studies that, while appearing neutral, often deliberately targeted how Uber 'creates countless positive jobs for everyone', 'provides affordable transportation solutions for users', and 'enhances labor productivity.'
Switch to block police data access
Within Uber's internal emails, the company's personnel are well aware of their operations being illegal in many countries, such as Turkey, South Africa, Spain, the Czech Republic, Sweden, France, Germany, and Russia. Across the globe, police, transportation officials, and regulatory agencies are trying to manage Uber. In many cities, regulatory agencies download the app to order rides. Upon arrival, they proceed to fine unauthorized passenger pickups and seize vehicles. Uber offices in many countries are being raided by the police.

Tax Evasion
There was an incident where Uber's director in the UK, Fraser Robinson, was asked to relocate to Amsterdam to deceive the UK tax authorities that Uber had no management personnel within the UK territory. UK law requires taxation if there are management personnel in the UK, Robinson refused due to family reasons, and resigned.Ignoring Driver and Passenger Safety
Not all money-burning strategies to recruit drivers and lobbying efforts are successful for Uber everywhere. While they succeed in stimulating governments to rewrite laws in their favor in some places, in others, Uber drivers are targeted by taxi unions, sometimes operating in extremely opaque ways, and become victims of violence.

