ウーバー、なりふり構わぬ戦術で市場拡大　ドライバーへの暴力も利用　調査報道

【サンフランシスコＡＦＰ＝時事】国際調査報道ジャーナリスト連合（ＩＣＩＪ）は１０日、配車サービス大手ウーバー・テクノロジーズが創業当初、自社ドライバーがタクシー業界から暴力行為を受けたのを利用して支持を集めたり、規制をすり抜けたりするなど、倫理的に問題で違法の可能性ある手法を使って世界進出を加速させていたと報じた。流出した同社の機密ファイルから明らかになったとしている。（写真は資料写真）
　流出したのは、２０１３～１７年のウーバー幹部間のメールやメッセージのやり取りなど１２万４０００件の機密ファイルのキャッシュデータ。英紙ガーディアンが入手し、ＩＣＩＪに参加するジャーナリストに提供した。
　それによると、共同創業者で最高経営責任者（ＣＥＯ）だったトラビス・カラニック氏は、２０１６年に仏パリでウーバーの市場進出への抗議デモが過熱する中、「暴力は成功を保証する」とのメッセージを他の幹部に送り、カウンターデモの実施を促すよう呼び掛けた。
　調査に関与した米紙ワシントン・ポストは、ウーバーの急速な事業拡大について、ドライバーへの補助金や安価な運賃でタクシー業界を切り崩す手法に支えられていたが「タクシー・配車サービスの営業許可を取得しようとしないことも多かった」と報じた。
　ウーバーのドライバーは欧州各地で、生活が脅かされていると感じたタクシー運転手からの暴力的な報復に直面していた。同紙によれば、今回の調査で「ウーバー幹部は、ドライバーが攻撃を受けるとすぐさまそれを利用して」一般市民や規制当局に支援を働き掛けていたことが分かった。
　またガーディアンは、ウーバーがベルギー、オランダ、スペイン、イタリアなど欧州各国で自社ドライバーを動員して同様の戦術を展開し、暴力行為の被害に遭った場合には警察に苦情を申し立て、報道を利用して当局の譲歩を引き出そうとしていたと伝えた。
　カラニック氏は、強引な経営手法や複数回に及ぶ性的・心理的ハラスメントに関する告発を受け、２０１７年にＣＥＯを辞任した。同氏の広報担当者は、今回の報道内容を強く否定。「誤った意図」に基づいた調査結果であり、同氏が「ドライバーの安全を犠牲にして暴力を利用すべきだと示唆したことは一度もない」と反論した。
　一方、ウーバーは１０日、責任はカラニック氏の下で当時の経営陣が犯した「過ち」にあると指摘。「われわれは対立の時代から協力の時代へと移行した。交渉を通じて、かつて敵対した労働組合やタクシー会社などとも落としどころを見いだそうとしている」とし、ダラ・コスロシャヒ現ＣＥＯが「ウーバー運営のあらゆる面について改革に乗り出している」と強調した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/07/12-13:14）

A leaked cache of confidential files from ride-sharing company Uber illustrates ethically dubious and potentially illegal tactics it used to fuel its frenetic global expansion beginning nearly a decade ago, a joint media investigation showed Sunday.
Dubbed the Uber Files, the investigation involving dozens of news organizations found that company officials leveraged the sometimes violent backlash from the taxi industry against drivers to garner support and evaded regulatory authorities as it looked to conquer new markets early in its history.
Culled from 124,000 documents from 2013-2017 initially obtained by British daily the Guardian and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the revelations are the latest hit for a company dogged by controversy as it exploded into a disruptive force in local transportation.
The cache includes unvarnished text and email exchanges between executives, with standouts from co-founder and former chief executive Travis Kalanick, who was forced to resign in 2017 following accusations of brutal management practices and multiple episodes of sexual and psychological harassment at the company.
Violence guarantee(s) success, Kalanick messaged other company leaders as he pushed for a counter protest amid sometimes heated demonstrations in Paris in 2016 against Uber's arrival in the market.
Uber's rapid expansion leaned on subsidized drivers and discounted fares that undercut the taxi industry, and often without seeking licenses to operate as a taxi and livery service, reported The Washington Post, one of the media outlets involved in the probe.
Drivers across Europe had faced violent retaliation as taxi drivers felt their livelihoods threatened. The investigation found that in some instances, when drivers were attacked, Uber executives pivoted quickly to capitalize to seek public and regulatory support, the Post said.
According to the Guardian, Uber has adopted similar tactics in European countries including Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy, mobilizing drivers and encouraging them to complain to the police when they were victims of violence, in order to use media coverage to obtain concessions from the authorities.
A spokesperson for Kalanick strongly denied the findings as a false agenda, saying he never suggested that Uber should take advantage of violence at the expense of driver safety.
Uber, however, placed the blame Sunday on previously publicized mistakes made by leadership under Kalanick.
We've moved from an era of confrontation to one of collaboration, demonstrating a willingness to come to the table and find common ground with former opponents, including labor unions and taxi companies, it said, noting that his replacement, Dara Khosrowshahi, was tasked with transforming every aspect of how Uber operates.
- 'Kill switch' -
The investigation also found that Uber worked to evade regulatory probes by leveraging a technological edge, the Post wrote.
It described an instance when Kalanick implemented a kill switch to remotely cut off access of devices in an Amsterdam office to Uber's internal systems during a raid by authorities.
Please hit the kill switch ASAP, he wrote in an email to an employee. Access must be shut down in AMS (Amsterdam).
Kalanick spokesperson Devon Spurgeon said the former chief executive never authorized any actions or programs that would obstruct justice in any country.
Kalanick did not create, direct or oversee these systems set up by legal and compliance departments and has never been charged in any jurisdiction for obstruction of justice or any related offense, she said.
But the investigation charged that Uber's actions flouted laws and that executives were aware, citing one joking that they had become pirates.
The reports say the files reveal Uber also lobbied governments to aid its expansion, finding in particular an ally in France's Emmanuel Macron, who was economy minister from 2014 to 2016 and is now the country's president.
The company believed Macron would encourage regulators to be 'less conservative' in their interpretation of rules limiting the company's operations, the Post said.
Macron was an open supporter of Uber and the idea of turning France into a start-up nation in general, but the leaked documents suggest that the minister's support even sometimes clashed with the leftist government's policies.
The revelations sparked indignation among leftist politicians, who denounced the Uber-Macron links as against all our rules, all our social rights and against workers' rights, and condemned the pillage of the country.