Uber Files Special

It has been a remarkable week of revelations about Uber, the US ridehail firm which is a symbol of the gig economy and is now known the world over for brazen illegality and corruption. 



The Uber Files are 124,000 leaked internal documents shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) and its 43 media partners, which has produced a plethora of revelations about the company. We have done our best to summarise the most important things you need to know about the Uber Files here, while also trying to highlight the key reaction from workers, politicians and others (see here and here), while Piero Valmassoi has written for GEP about what we know of Uber and co's lobbying efforts over the EU platform work directive. 



We thought the most useful thing the Gig Economy Project could do with the newsletter this week is compile a list of all the revelations about Uber in Europe reported by the ICIJ and its partners which we can find and/or access, and put these articles together in one place. We know that activists, academics, journalists, trade unionists, politicians and many others working on or in the gig economy are subscribed to this newsletter, so we hope you find this resource useful. 



The danger when so much news comes out at once is that much of it gets lost or quickly forgotten, but if collectively we are on top of it, there will be more chance of holding Uber to account for its actions. Suffice to say, it will be tragic if in the future the Uber Files is looked back upon as merely a blow for the company which it soon bounced back from, and not a watershed for curtailing the power of digital labour platforms and advancing platform workers' rights. 



Ben Wray, Gig Economy Project co-ordinator

Uber Files stories in Europe

International Consortium of Investigative Journalism



'How Uber won access to world leaders, deceived investigators and exploited violence against its drivers in battle for global dominance' (10 July)



'Uber shifted scrutiny to drivers as it dodged tens of millions in taxes' (11 July)



'Uber forged deals with top Putin allies in failed bid to break into Russian market' (11 July)



Profil (Austria)



'Biden, Macron, Netanyahu – A controversial startup and its million dollar lobbying' (10 July)



De Tijd (Belgium)



'Uber Files unmasks Uber's shady practices in Belgium' (11 July)



'Uber's lobbying machine in Brussels politics exposed' (12 July)



Knack (Belgium)



The gentlemen's agreement between Uber and Pascal Smet: behind the scenes of the Brussels taxi plan (12 July)



Le Soir (Belgium)



'Uber Files: In Brussels, all Uber moves are crooked' (10 July)



'Uber Files: the disturbing complicity of Pascal Smet with Uber' (12 July)



Eesti Päevaleht (Estonia)



"'Tell him to get this damn bill through the parliament first.' Uber's files reveal the behind-the-scenes of the big company's Estonian lobby" (10 July)



Yle, Finnish Broadcasting Company (Finland)



'The doors of Finnish decision-makers opened for Uber - the company's lobbying campaign is revealed behind the law reform that drove the taxi industry into chaos' (10 July)



'Leaked "Uber Files" show firm lobbied for Finland's taxi reforms' (11 July)



Data leak reveals that Uber did not care about the drivers' problems with the police: "Sometimes we have problems because we act damn illegally" (11 July)



'Uber Leaks: Lobbyist offered former Finnish PM positions at top companies' (12 July)



France Info (France)



'Uber files: the company's methods for settling in France are questioned' (11 July)



Le Monde (France) 



'Uber Files: Revelations on the secret 'deal' with then economy minister Emmanuel Macron' (10 July)



'Uber Files: Company paid economists to endorse its arguments' (10 July)



'“Uber Files”: in Paris, Lille or Lyon, Uber drivers left alone on the front line' (10 July)



'Uber Files: 'Kill switch', political pressure...How Uber actively obstructed investigations' (July 11)



Radio France (France)



'"Uber Files": documents prove the aggressive methods of the platform to establish itself in France' (11 July)



'Uber Files: When Emmanuel Macron played lobbyists for Uber' (10 July)



NDR (Germany)



"Uber Files" - data leak puts US group under pressure (10 July)



Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany)



'With Wild West methods on the German market' (10 July)



'What you need to know about the Uber Files' (10 July)



'Whoever writes, stays' (10 July)



'Final Opponent: Passenger Transport Act' (10 July)



'Kindly Please: How Uber sought proximity to the media' (11 July)



Direkt36 (Hungary)



'Leaked files of Uber reveal secret lobbying operations in Hungary' (11 July)



The Irish Times (Ireland)



'The Uber Files: How the US multinational tried to squeeze the Irish government' (11 July)



'Fine Gael used Uber text in 2016 election manifesto, US firm claimed in leaked files' (11 July)



'Uber files: Lobbyist joked about finding ‘amazing’ job for Irish EU official' (13 July)



L’Espresso (Italy)

'Uber Files, the super lobby: from the US to Rome, money and maneuvers to change laws and influence governments' (10 July)



'Uber Files, Carlo De Benedetti former shareholder of the US giant and secret mediator with the Renzi government' (11 July)



Het Financieele Dagblad (The Netherlands)



'Neelie Kroes lobbied for Uber despite European Commission ban' (10 July)



'When the inspectors invade, all screens at Uber go black' (10 July)



'Senior Tax Office officials violated rules to favour Uber (11 July)



'How Uber found a willing ally in the tax authorities' (13 July)



Investico (The Netherlands)



'Tax authorities violated rules in favour of Uber' (11 July)



VVD-prominent Kroes lobbied for Uber despite EU ban (10 July)



Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland)



'The Uber Files. Like the largest transport corporation in the world, it was buying the grace of politicians' (10 July)



Rise Project (Romania)



'Uber Machinery' (11 July)



El Pais (Spain)



'Secret documents reveal Uber's strategies to establish itself in dozens of countries: "Sometimes there are problems because we are fucking illegal"' (10 July)



'Uber, after his dismissal in Spain: "It would be useful to have information about the judge, find his weaknesses and take advantage of them"' (10 July)



'Uber spied on taxi drivers and sought to use the protests in their favour: “It would be very powerful to have photos of the violence in Barcelona”' (10 July)



'Uber exploited the rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona: "We must create a challenge between Catalonia and the national government"' (11 July)



La Sexta (Spain)



'The manoeuvres of Uber, a "fucking illegal" company, to settle in Spain: an Obama adviser met with Rajoy to convince him' (10 July) 



'Uber's tricks to gain social support after its ban in Spain: "It's time to be more aggressive"' (10 July)



Uber's labor policy: have the "least possible relationship" with drivers and obstruct inspections (10 July)



Uber used Greyball in Barajas: the spyware with which the company deceived the authorities also in Spain (10 July)



'Uber leaked information about its drivers to avoid the Treasury' (12 July)



'The "useful" question for Uber presented in Brussels by Girauta, Nart and Maura' (15 July)

The Guardian (UK)



Emmanuel Macron secretly aided Uber lobbying drive in France, leak reveals (10 July)



"‘Violence guarantees success’: how Uber exploited taxi protests" (10 July)



'Uber bosses told staff to use ‘kill switch’ during raids to stop police seeing data' (10 July)



'The Uber campaign: how ex-Obama aides helped sell firm to world' (10 July)



'Former EU digital chief secretly helped Uber lobby Dutch PM, leak suggests' (10 July)



'Osborne, Hancock and other ministers did not declare secret Uber meetings' (11 July)



"‘We needed Dave and George to lean on Boris’: Uber’s battle for London" (11 July)



'Uber hired oligarch linked Russian lobbyist despite bribery fears' (11 July)



'The Moscow Moves: How Mandelson's firm helped Uber reach Russian elite' (11 July)



'The Uber Whistleblower: I'm exposing a system that sold people a lie' (11 July)



'Star executive quit Uber as it faced pressure over UK tax structure' (11 July)



'Uber offered shares to media barons for political help, leak reveals' (11 July)



'Uber paid academics six-figure sums for research to feed to the media' (12 July)



"‘They were taking us for a ride’: how Uber used investor cash to seduce drivers" (12 July) 



'Uber used Greyball fake app to evade police across Europe, leak reveals' (12 July)



'Uber facing questions over how it knew Transport for London boss used app' (13 July)



'The Uber files: firm knew it launched illegally in Australia, then leaned on governments to change the law' (15 July)



BBC (UK)



'Uber Files: Massive leak reveals how top politicians secretly helped Uber' (10 July)



'Uber Files: Tech firm lobbied top ministers at undeclared meetings' (11 July)



Documentary: Taking us for a ride - The Uber Files (11 July)



On GEP this week