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How auditing giant #KPMG became a global sustainability leader while serving companies accused of #forest destruction - ICIJ
▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/deforestation-inc/audit-firms-kpmg-environmental-sustainability-logging
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“For many organizations as well as individuals, all they’re looking for right now is an #FSC label or an SFI label, and it’s all good as far as they’re concerned,” said Herb Hammond, a registered professional forester and ecologist in Canada, referring to the SFI and a competing certification organization, the #Forest_Stewardship_Council.

“As time has gone by, people in the know realized that these are largely ‘greenwashing’ kinds of schemes,” Hammond said.

How Uber won access to world leaders, deceived investigators and exploited violence against its drivers in battle for global dominance - ICIJ
▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/uber-files/uber-global-rise-lobbying-violence-technology

THE LOBBYING MACHINE
How Uber won access to world leaders, deceived investigators and exploited violence against its drivers in battle for global dominance

When the ride-hailing giant called, powerful politicians answered, leaked text messages and emails reveal.

By Sydney P. Freedberg, Nicole Sadek, Brenda Medina, Agustin Armendariz and Karrie Kehoe

July 10, 2022Investigations
The Uber FilesIt was mid-2015, and taxi drivers were creating chaos in Marseille, France’s second-largest city.

After repeated clashes, on Oct. 20, 2015, authorities partially suspended Uber’s most popular service.
Needing a friend in government to smooth things over, Uber’s chief European lobbyist sought help from a young French minister on the rise: Emmanuel Macron.
The exchange was one of more than a dozen undisclosed communications, including at least four meetings between Uber representatives and Macron, as the company faced investigations and fought to keep its toehold in France, according to newly leaked internal records.

They overturned cars, burned tires and blocked access to the airport and train station in protest of Uber, the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company, which they said was breaking laws and threatening their livelihoods.\n
Hours later, authorities said they would revise the suspension order.\nAs it grew from scrappy Silicon Valley startup to a world-conquering multi-billion dollar operation, Uber promoted itself as a leader of the digital revolution.
But the tech company pushed its agenda the old-fashioned way. Uber’s scandals and missteps in the United States, from its spying on government officials to its leaks of executive misconduct, have been the subject of books, TV series and newspaper investigations.
Now, a new leak of records reveal the inside story of how the ride-hailing giant’s executives muscled into new markets, then managed the fallout, spending gobs of cash on a global influence machine deployed to win favors from politicians, regulators and other leaders, who were often eager to lend a hand.
The records, the Uber Files, were obtained by The Guardian newspaper and shared with ICIJ and 42 other media partners. The cache includes emails, text messages, company presentations and other documents from 2013 to 2017, when Uber was barging into cities in defiance of local laws and regulations, dodging taxes and seeking to grind into submission the taxi industry, most prominently, but also labor activists.
“Right now you are seen as aggressive,” the prime minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, told Uber’s founder, Travis Kalanick, in 2016, according to meeting notes. “Change the way people look at the company” by stressing the positives, Rutte advised. “This will make you seem cuddly.”
That aggressiveness — plunging into markets without government approvals — made Uber’s drivers the target of traditional cabbies’ rage. Taxi drivers saw their business threatened by competitors who didn’t have to play by the same rules. In Europe, Asia and South America, cabbies staged protests, harassed Uber customers, beat Uber drivers and set fire to their cars.
Some Uber executives sought to spin violence to their advantage. They discussed leaking details of a near-fatal stabbing and other brutal attacks to the media hoping to draw negative attention to the taxi industry, the communications show.
Uber executives also sought to deflect inquiries about the company’s aggressive tax avoidance strategies by volunteering to help host countries collect income taxes owed by drivers, documents show.
The records include details of private exchanges and get-togethers: a U.S. ambassador chatting with an Uber investor in a Finnish sauna; a Russian oligarch entertaining company executives with a Cossack band; a company lawyer circulating a “dawn raid manual” that tells employees what to do if law enforcement officers swoop down on Uber offices to seize potential evidence of illegal conduct.
And they shed light on internal discussions among executives grappling with the fallout of Uber’s chaotic global strategy.
Mark MacGann, Uber’s chief lobbyist in Europe at the time, described Uber’s approach to entering new markets as a “sh*itstorm,” according to the documents.
“We’re just fucking illegal,” Nairi Hourdajian, then head of Uber’s global communications, wrote to a colleague amid government efforts to shut down the ride-hailing service in Thailand and India.
The Uber Files also show that the company’s use of stealth technology to thwart government investigations was far more expansive than previously reported. Company executives activated a so-called kill switch to cut access to company servers and prevent authorities from seizing evidence during raids on Uber offices in at least six countries, according to the leaked documents.
Kalanick personally ordered use of the switch as police were descending on its Amsterdam headquarters, records show. “Please hit the kill switch ASAP,” Kalanick ordered. “Access must be shut down in AMS [Amsterdam].”
David Plouffe, who managed Barack Obama’s successful 2008 presidential campaign, and Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, now in charge of Uber Eats, were told that the company had deployed the kill switch to block investigators, text exchanges show.
To spread its message, Uber and an advisory firm compiled lists of more than 1,850 “stakeholders” — sitting and former public officials, think tanks and citizens groups — it hoped to influence in 29 countries and the European Union, the documents show.

Uber also recruited a battalion of former public officials, including many former aides to President Barack Obama. They appealed to public officials to drop probes, change policies on workers’ rights, draft new taxi laws and relax background checks on drivers.
Records show that Uber executives met with France’s Macron, then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and then-Estonia President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, among other world leaders.
In 2016, then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden sought a meeting with Kalanick at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Kalanick, messages show, grew impatient when Biden ran late. “I’ve had my people let him know that every minute late he is, is one less minute he will have with me,” the then-39-year-old entrepreneur texted a colleague.
Once Biden arrived at the five-star hotel suite they’d agreed to meet at, Kalanick made his well-practiced pitch: The ride-hailing company, he said, was transforming cities and the way people work, all for the better.
Biden was so impressed, records show, that he tweaked his keynote speech, delivered later that day, to tout the company’s global impact.
In all, the new records reveal more than 100 meetings between Uber executives and public officials from 2014 to 2016, including 12 with representatives of the European Commission that haven’t been publicly disclosed.

Uber executives also courted oligarchs tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin through former U.S. and U.K. officials and struck special deals with them. Those oligarchs have since been sanctioned by Western governments in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In every market, claims that Uber was transforming the workforce were central to the company’s pitch. But some drivers say that they were misled, that Uber lured them to its platform with financial incentives that didn’t last while sharply increasing its commission from each ride. That meant drivers like 44-year-old Abdurzak Hadi of London had to work longer hours to maintain their wages.
Hadi began driving for Uber in 2014 and found it “a joy” at first. But “the joy only lasted a very short time,” he told The Guardian.
Uber soon cut drivers’ incentives and increased its commission, meaning less money for Hadi. The Somalia-born father of three brought in about $23,000 last year after spending between 40 to 50 hours a week logged onto the Uber app — the majority of which was spent completing trips.
Jill Hazelbaker, a spokeswoman for Uber, acknowledged “mistakes” and “missteps” that culminated five years ago in “one of the most infamous reckonings in the history of corporate America.”
She said Uber completely changed how it operates in 2017 after facing high-profile lawsuits and government investigations that led to the ouster of Kalanick and other senior executives.
“When we say Uber is a different company today, we mean it literally: 90 percent of current Uber employees joined after Dara [Khosrowshahi] became CEO” in 2017, Hazelbaker said in a written statement. “We have not and will not make excuses for past behavior that is clearly not in line with our present values.”
Hazelbaker said that Uber has not used a kill switch to thwart regulatory actions since 2017 and that Uber complies with all tax laws. She added: “No one at Uber has ever been happy about violence against a driver.”
The company dismissed any suggestion that it received special treatment from Macron or his cabinet and emphasized that no one who works at Uber today was involved in building relationships with Russian oligarchs. Uber founder Travis Kalanick. Image: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Kalanick resigned under pressure in 2017 as investors voiced concerns about Uber’s workplace culture, including allegations of sexual harassment, racial discrimination and bullying. He remained a director until the end of 2019.
About a week after his meeting with Biden, Kalanick texted with colleagues about the possibility of organizing pro-Uber counter-demonstrations after violence by cabbies in Paris. “We will look at effective civil disobedience and at the same time keep folks safe,” MacGann wrote.
“I think it’s worth it,” Kalanick responded. “Violence guarantee[s] success. And these guys must be resisted, no?”
Devon Spurgeon, a spokeswoman for Kalanick, said the former CEO never suggested that Uber should take advantage of violence at the expense of driver safety or authorize “any actions or programs that would obstruct justice in any country.”
Uber, like other businesses operating outside the U.S., used technology protocols to protect intellectual property and the privacy of riders and drivers and to ensure due process of law is respected in the event of a raid, she said, adding: “These fail-safe protocols do not delete any data or information and all decisions about their use involved, were vetted by, and were approved by Uber’s legal and regulatory departments.”
Spurgeon said Kalanick did not create, direct or oversee these systems set up by legal and compliance departments.
“In pressing its false agenda that Mr. Kalanick directed illegal or improper conduct, the ICIJ claims to have documents that Mr. Kalanick was on or even authored, some of which are almost a decade old,” she added. “Tellingly, the ICIJ flatly rejected requests to review any of those documents, which further exacerbates concerns about many of the source documents’ authenticity.” Support independent journalism
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Donate ‘The Pyramid of Shit’
By 2014, Uber was dominating the ride-hailing market in the United States and aiming to conquer the rest of the world.
Armed with buckets of cash from investors like Jeff Bezos and Goldman Sachs, the 5-year-old company entered 31 countries in 2014 alone.
It also provoked regulatory crises wherever it went.
Rather than going through the traditional licensing process or working to change laws and regulations governing taxi and similar services, Uber plowed ahead, undercutting rivals by offering steep discounts.
The leaked communications show that some Uber executives embraced the renegade approach as simply the way the company operated.
“Our initial approach was at times too brash,” Uber’s Hazelbaker said.
When Uber sought to enter Poland, for example, the team held “extensive discussions” about how to deal with Polish law ill-equipped to regulate a smartphone-enabled ride-hailing service, Bartek Kwiatkowski, then an Uber consultant, told ICIJ.
The leaked documents show that in 2014 Kwiatkowski asked for guidance about the Polish launch. MacGann, an Uber lobbyist, answered: “Bartek, there are no case studies per se – basically Uber launches, and then there is a regulatory and legal sh*itstorm.”
The guerrilla strategy produced a mounting set of challenges that executives described in a presentation as a “pyramid of shit.” “Driver lawsuits,” “regulatory investigations,” “administrative procedures” and “direct litigation” made up the pyramid. A slide from an internal Uber presentation showing the company’s mounting challenges. Image: The Uber Files

To surmount obstacles, Uber built a massive influence juggernaut, for lobbying and related activities, with a proposed global budget of $90 million in 2016 alone, according to the leaked documents.
The company borrowed strategies it had honed in the United States.
When Uber needed political muscle to move into a city, it hired former government officials to lobby former colleagues. When accused of breaking rules, the company solicited customers to serve as grassroots lobbyists and sign “save Uber” petitions. And when its agenda seemed in need of a scholarly push, it paid friendly academics to produce favorable research.
Uber adopted the mantra, as two Uber figures put it: It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Just as it did in the U.S., Uber lured drivers in European cities to its platform by offering bonuses and other incentives. It then cut back on subsidies, stripping workers of income they had come to rely on.
The company turned to “strategic investors,” people with deep pockets and political connections, to influence laws abroad. Company executives encouraged them to invest in the ride-hailing app and ensured that they had enough “skin in the game” to help the company overcome regulatory obstacles in their respective countries. The French telecom tycoon Xavier Niel invested $10 million and the German publishing company Axel Springer put up $5 million, as did French fashion magnate Bernard Arnault.
“We don’t need their money per se but could be useful allies to win France,” lobbyist MacGann wrote in an email, referring to Arnault.
Uber also built up an impressive roster of lobbyists.
As its first in-house lobbyist, Uber hired Brian Worth, a former aide to U.S. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California, in 2014. Among the leaked documents is his five-page memo outlining a global expansion strategy, titled: “Leveraging the U.S. government to support Uber’s international business.”
Some Uber lobbyists and advisers were offered equity stakes in the company and success fees for delivering favorable results, according to the documents. Those hired guns offered government officials discounts on Uber rides, “super high level” lunches, advice about jobs, free political campaign work, campaign contributions and other gifts and perks.
Uber also sought to leverage former public officials, including Neelie Kroes, a former Dutch transportation minister who served as vice president of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm.
About a year after leaving the commission in October 2014, Kroes asked to be allowed to join a paid Uber advisory board, despite an 18-month so-called cooling off period in the commission’s code of conduct that forbids former commissioners from lobbying ex-colleagues. The commission turned her down and denied an appeal.

During the cooling-off period, Kroes pressed a Dutch minister and other members of the government “to force regulator and police to back off” an investigation of Uber’s Amsterdam office, according to the leaked documents.
And, in May 2016, around the time the cooling-off period was expiring, she told an Uber executive she was working to arrange a meeting between Uber and a European commissioner.
Although the ethics code speaks only to lobbying the commission itself, it also requires commissioners to “behave in a manner that is in keeping with the dignity and the duties of their office, both during and after their term.” It also requires them to “behave with integrity and discretion … even beyond the 18 months after ceasing to hold office.”
After the cooling-off period ended, Kroes joined Uber’s advisory board. Records show Uber offered her $200,000 to chair the board.
“Our relationship with NK is highly confidential,” MacGann reminded his colleagues in a March 2015 email, four months after Kroes resigned from the commission. “Her name should never figure on a document.”
Company executives discussed the risk of Kroes’s becoming “the poster child for the discussions around ‘revolving door/tech’s crony capitalism.’ ”
In a written statement to ICIJ, Kroes said: “Consistent with my ethical duties as a former European Commissioner, I did not have any formal nor informal role at Uber” before the end of the cooling-off period. She added that during the period, she took an unpaid role with a Dutch startup support organization that required her to “interact with a wide array of business, government and non-governmental entities.” She said she did so at the request of the Dutch government and with the approval of the European Commission.
Other revolving-door recruits included the flock of former Obama aides, who would seek audiences with U.S. Cabinet secretaries, trade officials, ambassadors and foreign leaders.
Jim Messina, Obama’s former deputy chief of staff, became a political consultant in 2013, taking on Uber as a client. Records show that he sometimes found himself in dual roles: Messina, for instance, asked an Uber lobbyist if he should discuss the company’s regulatory problems in Spain with then-Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy while handling Rajoy’s political campaign, the documents show.
Messina also helped connect Uber executives to U.S. diplomats, including John B. Emerson, a U.S. ambassador to Germany during the Obama administration, and one of Emerson’s predecessors, Robert Kimmitt, then a senior counsel at the WilmerHale law firm. The law firm was looking for work helping Uber overcome legal obstacles in Germany.
The leaked documents throw light on MacGann’s and Messina’s ties to Jane Hartley, the U.S. ambassador to France from 2014 until 2017. Hartley got her prestigious diplomatic post after raising large amounts of campaign money for Obama.
With the company facing regulatory hurdles in France, MacGann requested a meeting with the ambassador. He texted Messina a day before the appointment.
The exchange includes an apparent joking reference to works of art at the lavish ambassador’s residence in Paris.

Adrian Durbin, a spokesman for Messina, said Messina never lobbied for Uber or spoke to any head of state on behalf of Uber. “Mr. Messina’s work for Uber involved helping them understand the political landscape in certain European countries where the company was seeking to grow its business,” Durbin said.
Durbin did not comment on follow-up questions about Uber Files documents in which Messina tells Uber executives about private conversations he was having with heads of state.
Former Obama aide Plouffe joined Uber as the head of global branding, communications and policy in 2014. He was the architect of Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, which had pledged, among other reforms, to curb revolving-door lobbying. The documents show him playing a larger role lobbying and leading Uber’s international regulatory fights than previously known.
Plouffe held unpublicized meetings with several U.S. officials, including then-U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Ambassador Hartley.
A State Department spokesman said Hartley, now U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, did not recall any discussions with Plouffe or Messina about Uber. Perez did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Plouffe also met with officials in countries where Uber was waging regulatory battles, including India. In India, Uber employees were told to expect disruptions from competitors and regulators as the company launched ride-hailing operations. “Embrace the chaos,” the company’s top executive in Asia said in a message.

In the United Arab Emirates, the company turned to Plouffe to “soften Uber’s image,” an Uber public policy specialist, Joanne Kubba, said in an email in the leaked documents.
Kubba told The Washington Post, an ICIJ partner, in a statement: “David’s meetings didn’t prevent or delay anything — they simply served to show we had responsible and mature leaders in the company who would be professional counterparts with government.”
Plouffe worked for Uber from 2014 until January 2017. Just before he quit, he paid $7.6 million for a 6,000-square-foot house in San Francisco.
The following month, the Chicago Board of Ethics fined Plouffe $90,000 for illegally lobbying then-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel had served as Obama’s chief of staff.
In a statement, Plouffe acknowledged “a very public, global and sometimes fierce debate” over ride-hailing regulations during his time at the company.
“Sometimes those debates and negotiations were straightforward, sometimes they were more challenging, and sometimes there were people within the company who wanted to go too far,” Plouffe said in a three-paragraph statement. “I did my best to object when I thought lines would be crossed—sometimes with success, sometimes not.”
“Let me tell you,” Plouffe said, “you get in the room with a transportation minister, I don’t care where it is, state capitol, city council, European capital, African country, they don’t care what I or anyone else did before.” The negotiations, he added, “tended to get very specific about a whole set of issues around ride-sharing.”
Uber did not comment on specific lobbying efforts but said that as the company “matured,” it strengthened oversight of lobbying and instituted new lobbying guidelines in Europe.
“Uber fulfills its obligations to disclose its activities when required to do so,” Hazelbaker said. “In turn, it is the responsibility of elected officials to disclose meetings when they are required to do so.” Leak to us

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The kill switch
On a Monday afternoon in November 2014, Uber’s Paris office in a leafy business park received unexpected visitors: French inspectors.
“Please kill access now,” Uber attorney Zac de Kievit emailed his colleagues.
De Kievit was referring to the so-called kill switch, which, when activated, disconnected computers from company servers. This would prevent authorities from seizing sensitive company documents.
Over the span of nearly a year, as Uber expanded worldwide, the company used the kill switch to block police from accessing its systems during office raids in France, as well as Romania, Netherlands, Belgium, India and Hungary.
The Uber Files reveal that Uber policy chief Plouffe participated in discussions about at least two of the raids as they took place. In March 2015, he asked for information as police raided the Paris office for at least the second time.
“Police still there. Big force (around 25),” then-lobbyist MacGann said in an email forwarded to Plouffe. “Police trying to get into laptops.”
“Ok,” Plouffe responded. “Real time updates please.”
“Access to IT tools was cut immediately, so the police won’t be able to get much if anything,” MacGann told Plouffe.
During yet another Paris raid, in July 2015, MacGann sent France’s Uber manager, Thibaud Simphal, advice via text message. The kill switch wasn’t the only technological weapon Uber deployed to dodge police and regulators. The company also identified police or government officials who it thought were ordering Uber cars to gather evidence. It could then show them a fake version of the app with phantom cars that never arrived. It did so in the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain and other countries.
Staff discussed creating “blackout geofences” around police stations in Denmark. Anyone inside the geofence wouldn’t be able to use the app successfully unless cleared by an Uber employee.
In Brussels, local authorities hired companies to recruit fake customers, or “mystery shoppers,” to take part in stings against Uber. They would order cars so that the authorities could take action against drivers when they arrived. Uber discussed telling staffers to sign up as shoppers under fake names in hopes they’d be alerted when the police were recruiting for any upcoming stings.
In 2014, Gore-Coty, then-Uber’s regional manager for Western Europe, wrote to the staff that the tactics “to fight enforcement” had been compiled in a “very good playbook.”

Gore-Coty, one of the earliest members of the Uber team, did not answer ICIJ’s questions about a playbook of tactics to fight law enforcement.
In an emailed statement, Gore-Coty expressed remorse for some of Uber’s tactics. “I joined Uber nearly ten years ago, at the start of my career,” he said. “I was young and inexperienced and too often took direction from superiors with questionable ethics.”
Neither Gore-Coty nor Plouffe responded to questions about the kill switch.
Simphal, then manager of Uber France and now global head of sustainability, said all of his interactions with public authorities were conducted in good faith.
In a written statement, MacGann said: “On every occasion where I was personally involved in ‘kill switch’ activities, I was acting on the express orders from my management in San Francisco.”
De Kievit did not respond to requests for comment.
Today, Uber said, it routinely cooperates with law enforcement and no longer uses technology to thwart it.
“Uber does not have a ‘kill switch’ designed to thwart regulatory inquiries anywhere in the world and has not since Dara [Khosrowshahi] became CEO in 2017,” spokeswoman Hazelbaker said. “While every company has software in place to remotely protect its corporate devices (for instance, if an employee loses their laptop), such software should never have been used to thwart legitimate regulatory actions.”
After Uber launched its first international efforts, in Paris in 2011, the company ran into rigorous enforcement by French authorities and fierce opposition from established taxi services. Taxi drivers’ anti-Uber demonstrations turned violent, and, in 2014, the National Assembly passed a pro-taxi law that regulated Uber.
French authorities began investigating Uber for possible offenses, including violating tax laws and operating a taxi service without a permit. France’s powerful consumer protection agency, the General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, focused on whether UberPOP, the company’s unlicensed, low-cost service, was illegal.
Uber had been gearing up for just this kind of fight.
Uber and an advisory firm compiled lists of “stakeholders,” mostly across Europe, the leaked communications show. In France, the company identified more than 250 allies, adversaries and others, including about 180 politicians and public officials.

After Emmanuel Macron, the fast-rising political centrist, became the economy minister in August 2014, Uber found that it had a high-ranking ally. Macron, then 36, was known as a business-oriented technocrat who once served a stint at the investment bank Rothschild & Co. As economy minister, he oversaw the consumer protection agency.
ICIJ partner Le Monde documented more than a dozen communications in the Uber Files — emails, texts, meetings, calls — between Macron or his aides and Uber between September 2014 and February 2016.
Shortly after becoming a minister, Macron had a meeting with Kalanick, the documents show. MacGann described it as “spectacular.” Macron told regulators not to be “too conservative,” essentially committing to interpreting taxi law in ways more favorable to Uber, MacGann said in an email.
Macron “hosted Uber in a remarkably warm, friendly and constructive atmosphere,” MacGann wrote. “Clear desire on his part to work around the … legislation.”
In another exchange, in July 2015, Kalanick asked Macron whether Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve could be trusted. Macron replied that he had met with Cazeneuve and then-Prime Minister Manuel Valls the previous day and that Cazeneuve had accepted a “deal.” Macron said he would amend the law, and later that evening, the company suspended UberPOP in France.
Cazeneuve told Le Monde that he had never heard of a deal between the French government and Uber. Macron, he said, didn’t tell him anything about that.
Hazelbaker said the company shut down UberPOP in response to high levels of violence against drivers and passengers. She denied a deal was struck with Macron or French authorities to ease rules. “The suspension of UberPOP was in no way followed by more favorable regulations,” she said.
In response to ICIJ’s questions, Macron’s office said the French services sector was in upheaval at the time because of the rise of platforms like Uber, which faced administrative hurdles and regulatory challenges. The office did not respond to questions about Macron’s relationship with Uber.
After building for months, the crisis in Marseille peaked after taxi drivers blocked an Uber executive from speaking at a business fair featuring entrepreneurs. Citing “clashes and excesses disturbing public order,” the local arm of the national police suspended UberX — the most popular Uber service — in central city districts and around the airport and train station. French taxi drivers protest in the southern city of Marseille in June 2015 as they demonstrate against Uber’s popular UberPOP service. Image: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images

A “dismayed” MacGann texted Macron the next day, and the minister replied 11 hours later: “I will look into this personally. Let me have all the facts and we will decide by this evening. Let’s stay calm at this point.”
That evening, the head of local national police began to reverse course, promising to clarify the order. Twelve days later, authorities issued a new order saying that the ban applied to unlicensed and unregulated Uber drivers in the whole jurisdiction. Authorities denied receiving any pressure from Macron’s ministry.
Uber chalked up the outcome as a win: “Ban reversed,” the company’s internal weekly update said, “after intense pressure from Uber.”

A high-stakes game

Ten Uber executives descended on the ski-resort town of Davos, Switzerland, to schmooze, party and strike deals with world leaders and oligarchs at the 2016 World Economic Forum.
At the four-day, invitation-only gathering, Uber also impressed then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden with the company’s commitment to workers. An invitation for an event hosted by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Image: The Uber Files

A theme of Davos 2016 was the digital revolution and the future of work. A 98-page Uber briefing book reveals that then-Uber CEO Kalanick and his subordinates had appointments with four prime ministers, two European Commission vice presidents, French Minister Macron and a smattering of other leaders. They also were scheduled to attend a late-night party hosted by British financier Nat Rothschild and Oleg Deripaska, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“So one vice president and two prime ministers today,” Rachel Whetstone, Uber’s top communications executive at the time, emailed the boss on Jan. 20, the first day of the Davos forum. She said his schedule also included cocktails and dinner with philanthropist Melinda Gates, a fireside chat with Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington and a side huddle with Russian billionaire Herman Gref, head of now-sanctioned Sberbank, during a reception hosted by the Russian bank. And lastly, an “entirely optional nightcap” at the Grand Hotel Belvedere, a colonnaded fortress towering over the Davos Promenade.
Behind the scenes, Kalanick spoke with world leaders and senior government officials in countries where Uber was trying to expand.
He met with Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s prime minister, and Saudi Arabia’s then-minister of commerce and industry, Tawfig al-Rabiah, documents show. “It was a pleasure,” al-Rabiah wrote later. “We hope to support you to have your official license soon.”
Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, publicly voiced support for Uber shortly after his meeting with Kalanick.
“We will break resistance. Let’s work in parallel,” Netanyahu said, according to notes from the meeting.
Netanyahu declined to comment through a spokesman.
Tawfig al-Rabiah did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
A spokeswoman for Bettel said Kalanick and the prime minister discussed Uber’s possible expansion into the tiny European country.
Uber took special care to keep Kalanick’s meeting with Biden confidential, “even with internal teams.” The chat was arranged through a chain of former Obama staffers.
Accompanied by an ex-Secret Service agent, Kalanick met Biden in Biden’s suite at the InterContinental Hotel, a hotel called the “Golden Egg” for its oval shape. Their discussion centered on Uber’s claims that it was creating lots of jobs and providing jobs that gave people a flexible way to make money. It had the desired effect. Biden changed his prepared remarks at the forum to allude to Uber, according to a message to an Uber staffer from a Biden aide.
“I met with the CEO today of one of those companies,” Biden said in his keynote speech, alluding to Kalanick and Uber while citing Kalanick’s projection of the impact of ride-hailing businesses on the world’s economies. “[He says] he is going to add two million new jobs this year, allowing them freedom to work as many hours as they wish, manage their own lives as they wish.”
In response to ICIJ’s questions last month, a White House spokeswoman said Biden was “committed to combating employee misclassification which deprives workers of critical protections and benefits, including minimum wage, overtime, and family and medical leave.”
The jobs forecast at Davos was rosy. Many of Uber’s drivers were part-time, freelance contractors ineligible for key benefits like health care. In many countries where Uber had rolled out rapidly, its drivers were being threatened and attacked by riders, thieves and traditional cabbies.
In South Africa, Uber let drivers begin accepting cash in May 2016 as part of an effort to boost ridership, and gang members ordered rides on the app simply to rob the drivers. In August 2019, two thugs attacked an Uber driver who was smashed in the head with a brick and died, prosecutors said.
I just can’t see myself driving for the platform anymore. I’m too scared — former Uber driver Faiza Haupt, from South Africa
Drivers in Cape Town, South Africa, told The Washington Post, an ICIJ media partner, that several drivers were burned alive in their cars.
“I just can’t see myself driving for the platform anymore. I’m too scared,” Faiza Haupt, 61, said in an interview with ICIJ. Haupt began driving for Uber in Cape Town in 2014, hoping to become an independent businesswoman. At first, the work was empowering. Then Uber started taking a higher commission while fares stayed the same.
She quit in 2016, after an angry rider attacked her from the rear seat, pulling her hair and beating her. “I lost control and thought I was going to crash,” Haupt said. “For a woman driving, it is scary.”
From 2014 to 2015, Uber dramatically reduced drivers’ pay in Cape Town by cutting a $4-per-trip bonus to nearly zero, according to leaked documents. Cape Town became one of Uber’s most profitable markets.
Frans Hiemstra, manager of Uber Sub Saharan Africa, said such incentives are common for any growing business. Uber spokesman Gus Glover added that as markets mature, the company adjusts those incentives.
In the last five years, Uber said, it has focused on “reorienting Uber’s entire culture — from the top down — around safety,” investing heavily in new technologies and other security features to keep passengers and drivers safe.
“There is much our former CEO said nearly a decade ago that we would certainly not condone today,” Hazelbaker said. “But one thing we do know and feel strongly about is that no one at Uber has ever been happy about violence against a driver.”
Yet leaked documents show that Kalanick and some other Uber executives saw violence and attacks on drivers as strategic opportunities to build support for their cause. They took no responsibility for the violence, even though Uber’s advance into new markets, often in violation of local laws, was triggering it.
Just a week after Kalanick’s meeting with Biden — after anti-Uber protests by taxi drivers had turned violent — CEO Kalanick sent this text to colleagues declaring the possible upside of disorder: It wasn’t the only time Uber executives tried to spin violence against its drivers to its advantage. In 2015, taxi drivers in Brussels organized a campaign of harassment against Uber. They threw eggs at Uber cars, smashed side-view mirrors and took keys from Uber drivers. Some even threatened to “lynch” them.
The company’s general manager in Belgium remarked: “Already one driver stepped forward to talk to press: He had a full sack of flour thrown over him and passengers by taxi. He pressed charges and one taxi driver would have spent a night in jail –> Good story!”
‘From confrontation to collaboration’ Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Image: Michael Faas / Fortune via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

After replacing Kalanick in 2017, Dara Khosrowshahi led Uber through a shaky stock market debut, a pandemic-induced ridership slump and an overhaul of business practices. “Dara rewrote the company’s values, revamped the leadership team, made safety a top company priority, implemented best-in-class corporate governance, hired an independent board chair, and installed the rigorous controls and compliance necessary to operate as a public company,” spokeswoman Hazelbaker said. “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.”
Hazelbaker acknowledged the company hasn’t always treated drivers with enough care and respect but has made improvements since 2017. Drivers’ earnings globally are near or at an all-time high, she said, and Uber now advocates “globally for more benefits and protections.” She defended Uber’s independent driver-contractor model as an engine of job creation and economic growth.
Kalanick’s spokeswoman Spurgeon said: “When Mr. Kalanick co-founded Uber in 2009, he and the rest of the Uber team pioneered an industry that has now become a verb. To do this required a change of the status quo, as Uber became a serious competitor in an industry where competition had been historically outlawed. As a natural and foreseeable result, entrenched industry interests all over the world fought to prevent the much-needed development of the transportation industry. As the ICIJ and the world know, Uber persevered.”
Uber is still dealing with the fallout from its tumultuous international rollout.
Some Uber drivers, especially in developing countries like South Africa, still complain about grueling hours and poor pay. Many entered high-cost leasing deals for their Uber cars. During the pandemic, some couldn’t make ends meet as they struggled to make car payments.

In India, drivers pay Uber 20% to 30% of their fares in commissions, double the amount when Uber launched in the world’s largest democracy, according to gig economy advocacy group Fairwork India.

In the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, courts have ruled that Uber drivers are covered by labor laws.
Elsewhere, rulings have gone against drivers seeking employee status. In the U.S., the National Labor Relations Board declared that Uber drivers are independent contractors who do not have the right to form unions or bargain collectively.

After racking up more than $20 billion in losses over more than 10 years, Uber finally began drawing closer to profitability in 2022.

In May, Uber shareholders voted against a proposal that would have required the company to fully disclose its lobbying activities and spending.

In response to ICIJ questions, Uber didn’t disclose how much it spent in the last year on international lobbying and who got the money.

Contributors: Scilla Alecci, Dean Starkman, Delphine Reuter, Ben Hallman, Jelena Cosic, Fergus Shiel, Mike Hudson, Emilia Diaz-Struck, Miguel Fiandor, Richard H.P. Sia, Hamish Boland-Rudder, Asraa Mustufa, Carlos Monteiro, Pierre Romera, Gerard Ryle, Antonio Cucho Gamboa, Joe Hillhouse, Tom Stites, Whitney Awanayah, Margot Williams, Soline Ledésert, Bruno Thomas, Caroline Desprat, Maxime Vanza Lutonda, Damien Leloup, Adrien Senecat, Elodie Gueguen, Felicity Lawrence, Rob Davies, Jennifer Rankin, Aaron Davis, Robin Amer, Joseph Menn, Douglas MacMillan, Rick Noack, Linda van der Pol, Uri Blau, Dirk Waterval and Karlijn Kuijpers.
Topics: Accountability, Corporations, Europe, Russia, Tax, Travis Kalanick, Uber Files
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« #Uber_Files » : révélations sur le « #deal » secret entre #Uber et Emmanuel #Macron à Bercy

Des documents internes à l’entreprise, analysés par « Le Monde », montrent comment, entre 2014 et 2016, le ministre de l’économie a œuvré en coulisse pour la société de #VTC, qui tentait d’imposer une #dérégulation_du_marché et affrontait l’hostilité du gouvernement.

Premier octobre 2014. Depuis minuit, la toute nouvelle loi Thévenoud est entrée en vigueur : elle encadre beaucoup plus sévèrement les conditions pour devenir chauffeur Uber, trois ans après l’arrivée de l’entreprise américaine en France, et interdit de facto UberPop, le service qui a provoqué un gigantesque mouvement de colère des taxis dans l’Hexagone en permettant à tout un chacun de devenir chauffeur occasionnel. Mais à 8 h 30, ce matin-là, c’est un véhicule Uber un peu particulier qui se gare devant le 145 de la rue de Bercy – l’entrée du ministère de l’économie par laquelle passent les invités d’Emmanuel Macron, nommé un mois plus tôt à ce poste.

« Meeting méga top avec Emmanuel Macron ce matin. La France nous aime après tout » Message du lobbyiste d’Uber Mark MacGann à ses collègues

A l’intérieur du van Mercedes Viano se trouvent quatre figures d’Uber : Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, le directeur Europe de l’Ouest, aujourd’hui chargé d’Uber Eats ; Mark MacGann, le lobbyiste en chef pour la zone Europe, Afrique, Moyen-Orient ; David Plouffe, l’ancien conseiller de Barack Obama, fraîchement nommé vice-président d’Uber ; et le fondateur et PDG de l’entreprise en personne, Travis Kalanick. Une heure plus tard, l’équipe de lobbying de choc ressort abasourdie du bureau d’Emmanuel Macron. « En un mot : spectaculaire. Du jamais-vu, écrit Mark MacGann dans un bref compte rendu envoyé dans la foulée à ses collègues. Beaucoup de boulot à venir, mais on va bientôt danser ;) » « Meeting méga top avec Emmanuel Macron ce matin. La France nous aime après tout », écrira-t-il également.

Cette rencontre restée confidentielle ne figurait pas à l’agenda d’Emmanuel Macron. Le Monde et ses partenaires du Consortium international des journalistes d’investigation (ICIJ) sont aujourd’hui en mesure d’en révéler l’existence grâce à l’analyse d’une vaste quantité de documents internes d’Uber, transmis au quotidien britannique The Guardian. Ces « Uber Files », des dizaines de milliers d’e-mails, de présentations, de tableurs et de documents PDF, écrits entre 2013 et 2017, jettent un éclairage particulièrement cru sur ces années folles, émaillées de violences durant les manifestations de taxis, pendant lesquelles l’entreprise américaine a usé de toutes les recettes du lobbying pour tenter d’obtenir une dérégulation du marché en France.

Surtout, ces documents montrent à quel point Uber a trouvé une oreille attentive chez Emmanuel Macron, qui scellera quelques mois plus tard un « deal » secret avec l’entreprise californienne pour « faire en sorte que la France travaille pour Uber afin qu’Uber puisse travailler en et pour la France ».

Gouvernement court-circuité

Les dirigeants d’Uber sont d’autant plus ravis de l’accueil extrêmement cordial du ministre de l’économie que le reste du gouvernement leur est très hostile. Le président François Hollande a bien rencontré très discrètement Travis Kalanick en février 2014, mais personne au sein de l’exécutif ne semble prêt à défendre Uber. Arnaud Montebourg, le prédécesseur d’Emmanuel Macron à Bercy, accusait directement Uber de « détruire des entreprises » ; au ministère de l’intérieur, Bernard Cazeneuve – qui a la tutelle des taxis – ne cache pas son hostilité au service, qui opère en marge de la loi et est visé par au moins quatre enquêtes différentes. Manuel Valls, premier ministre, n’a guère plus de sympathie pour Uber, et Alain Vidalies, aux transports, se méfie de ce service qui n’offre aucune sécurité de l’emploi. Lorsqu’il reçoit M. Kalanick, M. Macron ne peut ignorer qu’il court-circuite ainsi les décisions de ses collègues du gouvernement et des députés socialistes.

L’actuel président de la République n’a jamais caché sa sympathie pour Uber et son modèle, à même, selon lui, de créer énormément d’emplois, notamment pour les personnes peu qualifiées. « Je ne vais pas interdire Uber, ce serait renvoyer [les jeunes de banlieue sans qualifications] vendre de la drogue à Stains [Seine-Saint-Denis] », avait-il déclaré à Mediapart en novembre 2016. Fin 2014, Emmanuel Macron défend très publiquement le modèle d’Uber lors de la conférence Le Web, durant laquelle il se prononce contre l’interdiction d’Uber à Paris et explique que « [son] job n’est pas d’aider les entreprises établies mais de travailler pour les outsiders, les innovateurs ».

Emmanuel Macron a été, à Bercy, plus qu’un soutien, quasiment un partenaire

Mais les « Uber Files » montrent à quel point Emmanuel Macron a été, à Bercy, plus qu’un soutien, quasiment un partenaire. Un ministre qui suggère à Uber de transmettre des amendements « clés en main » à des députés amis ; un ministre qu’Uber France n’hésite pas à solliciter en cas de perquisition dans ses locaux ; un ministre qui, ce 1er octobre 2014, « s’excuse presque » de l’entrée en vigueur de la loi Thévenoud, d’après un compte rendu du rendez-vous écrit par le lobbyiste Mark MacGann pour ses collègues anglophones. D’après ce message, M. Macron aurait affirmé vouloir aider Uber à « travailler autour » de cette loi.

La rencontre d’octobre 2014 à Bercy avec Travis Kalanick est la première d’une longue série d’échanges avec le très controversé fondateur et PDG d’Uber, qui a quitté le conseil d’administration de l’entreprise en 2017 après une série de scandales de harcèlement et de conflits avec ses actionnaires. Au moins dix-sept échanges significatifs (rendez-vous, appels, SMS) ont eu lieu entre Emmanuel Macron ou ses proches conseillers et les équipes d’Uber France dans les dix-huit mois qui ont suivi son arrivée au ministère, dont au moins quatre rencontres entre le ministre et Travis Kalanick. Soit un échange par mois en moyenne.

Relation « gagnant-gagnant »

Les cadres d’Uber France entrevoient rapidement comment ils peuvent, dans une forme de symbiose, établir une relation « gagnant-gagnant » avec Emmanuel Macron, en fournissant au ministre des occasions de se présenter comme le champion de l’innovation, tout en assurant à l’entreprise des retombées médiatiques et politiques positives. Fin 2014, l’actualité offre un moment idéal : le géant du transport Mory Ducros, en grave difficulté financière depuis plusieurs années, s’apprête à déposer le bilan. Le dossier intéresse beaucoup Uber, et Travis Kalanick l’évoque avec Emmanuel Macron. Plutôt que de laisser les 2 200 salariés que compte encore l’entreprise perdre leur travail, pourquoi ne pas leur proposer de devenir chauffeurs Uber ? L’entreprise fait face à une pénurie de « supply » – « ravitaillement », le mot utilisé en interne pour désigner les chauffeurs.

En février 2015, quand Mory Ducros dépose finalement le bilan, les principaux cadres d’Uber France voient une occasion parfaite pour « pousser » leur proposition de simplifier les conditions d’accès à la licence de VTC (véhicule de transport avec chauffeur). « Cela pourrait être une sortie de crise pour le ministre [Emmanuel Macron], avec des milliers de chauffeurs de poids lourds qui deviendraient chauffeurs Uber », écrit Alexandre Molla, responsable du développement d’Uber en France. « On devrait en parler aussi vite que possible au cabinet de Macron (…) pour voir si ça l’intéresserait d’explorer cette idée avec Travis Kalanick », répond Maxime Drouineau, de l’équipe affaires publiques d’Uber.

Le projet n’aboutira jamais. Pas plus que celui, pourtant très avancé, d’organiser une visite des locaux d’Uber France et une rencontre avec des chauffeurs. Emmanuel Macron avait également donné son accord pour un détour par le siège californien d’Uber à San Francisco, en marge de son déplacement au Consumer Electronics Show, le salon des technologies de Las Vegas, visite qui n’aura jamais lieu. Fin 2015, un porte-parole d’Uber France s’agacera d’ailleurs publiquement que les rencontres avec son PDG ne soient « jamais inscrites à l’agenda » de ses interlocuteurs politiques.

Dès sa première rencontre avec Travis Kalanick, le ministre s’engage à aider Uber qui est dans le viseur des services de la répression des fraudes

En coulisse, en tout cas, Emmanuel Macron et son cabinet se démènent pour aider l’entreprise américaine. Dès sa première rencontre avec Travis Kalanick, le ministre de l’économie s’est engagé à donner un coup de pouce à Uber sur un dossier bien précis : la DGCCRF. A l’époque, la direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes, sous la tutelle de Bercy, enquête sur Uber et son modèle, considérant qu’UberPop se présente de manière mensongère comme un service de covoiturage. Les contrôles de chauffeurs se multiplient et, à Paris, les cadres de l’entreprise se doutent qu’une perquisition est imminente. Ce 1er octobre 2014, Emmanuel Macron les rassure : opposé à ce que les agents de la DGCCRF soient « trop conservateurs » dans leur interprétation des textes, il demande à son cabinet d’avoir « une discussion technique » avec eux, selon un compte rendu de la réunion écrit par Uber.

Mais six semaines après cette rencontre, et d’autres échanges plus informels, deux agents de la DGCCRF se présentent dans les locaux d’Uber France à Lyon. Trois jours plus tard, c’est le siège à Paris qui est visé par une perquisition. Depuis les Etats-Unis, David Plouffe, vice-président d’Uber, fulmine : « [Ces agents] dépendent de Macron, n’est-ce pas ? » Trois jours plus tard, le sujet est évoqué dans une nouvelle réunion entre Thibaud Simphal, directeur général d’Uber France, et Emmanuel Lacresse, le directeur de cabinet adjoint d’Emmanuel Macron, aujourd’hui député (Renaissance) de Meurthe-et-Moselle. « Lacresse a précisé que les grandes administrations comme la DGCCRF (…) fonctionnent principalement en autonomie, relate un compte rendu. Mais il a reconnu qu’il était important qu’ils agissent en cohérence, et donc il a dit qu’il leur parlerait. »

La DGCCRF a-t-elle subi des pressions ? Non, assure-t-elle aujourd’hui. Sollicités, plusieurs de ses hauts responsables de l’époque, dont la directrice Nathalie Homobono, n’ont pas souhaité répondre aux questions du Monde. Quant à Emmanuel Lacresse, il affirme de son côté qu’à aucun moment « des consignes n’ont été données à la DGCCRF ».

Un décret sur mesure

Une situation similaire se produit en octobre 2015 : le préfet de police de Marseille, Laurent Nuñez, prend un arrêté interdisant de facto Uber dans une large partie des Bouches-du-Rhône. « Monsieur le Ministre, nous sommes consternés par l’arrêté préfectoral à Marseille », écrit aussitôt Mark MacGann, le lobbyiste en chef d’Uber, à Emmanuel Macron. « Pourriez-vous demander à votre cabinet de nous aider à comprendre ce qui se passe ? » Emmanuel Macron répond par SMS qu’il va « regarder cela personnellement ». Trois jours plus tard, la préfecture de police « précise » les contours de son arrêté : l’interdiction disparaît au profit d’une menace de contrôles accrus pour les chauffeurs qui ne seraient pas en règle.

Laurent Nuñez, aujourd’hui coordonnateur national du renseignement à l’Elysée et proche conseiller d’Emmanuel Macron, assure n’avoir reçu aucune pression ni avoir eu aucun échange avec Bercy sur ce sujet ; d’anciens cadres d’Uber estiment que la préfecture se serait simplement rendu compte que son arrêté initial était illégal. M. Lacresse affirme de son côté que « le ministre n’est jamais intervenu auprès de la préfecture des Bouches-du-Rhône concernant la suspension du service UberX à Marseille, ni sur des procédures judiciaires quelles qu’elles soient concernant l’entreprise Uber ».

La réaction agacée d’Uber face à l’arrêté marseillais est d’autant plus vive qu’à ce moment-là, l’entreprise est précisément en train de valider les contours précis d’un accord confidentiel avec Emmanuel Macron, proposé par le ministre. Le « deal », comme l’appellent les cadres d’Uber France, repose sur un échange simple : en contrepartie de la suspension d’UberPop, Emmanuel Macron leur fait miroiter une simplification drastique des conditions nécessaires pour obtenir une licence de VTC. Un accord « gagnant-gagnant » pour Uber, dont le service UberPop a déjà été jugé illégal à plusieurs reprises, et que l’entreprise réfléchit déjà à arrêter.

Pour y parvenir, Emmanuel Macron et Uber s’accordent sur une stratégie commune. « Il veut que nous l’aidions en communiquant clairement et de manière agressive », écrit Thibaud Simphal, dans un compte rendu de réunion en janvier 2015. Première étape : Uber rédige directement des amendements parlementaires simplifiant les conditions d’accès à la licence de VTC, pour qu’ils soient proposés par des députés et discutés au cours de l’examen du projet de loi dite « Macron 1 » ; si leur adoption est peu probable à l’Assemblée, ils donneront plus de poids au ministre pour signer un décret qui n’aura pas besoin de passer par l’Assemblée.

En janvier 2015, Uber France transmet donc des amendements « clés en main » au député socialiste Luc Belot, opposé à UberPop mais très favorable à Uber, avec qui ils sont déjà en contact. « Bon appel avec Luc Belot, député socialiste, soutien-clé des VTC et d’Uber, se félicite Thibaud Simphal, le 21 janvier. Il a fait allusion à Macron à plusieurs reprises, et aussi, de manière détournée, à notre rencontre [avec Macron] d’hier soir. Il veut que le dossier VTC avance. » M. Simphal retire de cet échange « l’impression » que le député « avait reçu un coup de fil de Julie Bonamy », la rapporteuse de la mission de Thomas Thévenoud sur les taxis et les VTC en 2014, voire « de Macron lui-même, étant donné le niveau de détail qu’il avait ». Sollicité par Le Monde, M. Belot reconnaît avoir déposé des amendements tels que rédigés par Uber ou légèrement modifiés, et explique avoir été en plein accord avec leur contenu, étant convaincu qu’Uber apportait des améliorations aux services de transport.

Le plan se déroule sans accroc : les amendements présentés par Luc Belot sont rejetés ou retirés, mais Emmanuel Macron saisit l’occasion, à l’Assemblée, pour annoncer qu’un décret en reprendra les grandes lignes. Début 2016, le gouvernement réduit la durée de la formation nécessaire pour l’obtention d’une licence de VTC de deux cent cinquante à sept heures. Uber France conteste avoir obtenu une législation plus favorable à la suite de l’arrêt de Pop, et explique avoir stoppé ce service en raison du « niveau des violences visant nos utilisateurs, chauffeurs comme passagers, qui ne nous permettaient plus d’assurer leur sécurité », ainsi que par le placement en garde à vue de deux de ses cadres.

Une forme de fascination

Six mois plus tôt, le « deal » avait pourtant été entériné directement au plus haut niveau. Le 3 juillet 2015, Travis Kalanick envoie un SMS à Emmanuel Macron. Dans les jours précédents, le ministre de l’économie a discuté avec Bernard Cazeneuve et Manuel Valls pour leur présenter son « deal », et Uber a annoncé le matin même la suspension d’UberPop en France, mais Travis Kalanick, échaudé, se demande si l’intérieur est vraiment d’accord. « Pouvons-nous faire confiance à caz [Cazeneuve] ? », écrit M. Kalanick. « Nous avons eu une réunion hier avec le premier ministre, répond Emmanuel Macron. [Bernard] Cazeneuve s’assurera que les taxis restent calmes et je réunirai tout le monde la semaine prochaine pour préparer la réforme et corriger la loi. Caz a accepté le deal. Quand êtes-vous à Paris ? » A 20 heures, UberPop est définitivement mis hors ligne en France. M. Cazeneuve assure au Monde ne jamais avoir été consulté ou tenu au courant d’un accord de ce type.

Conclu, le « deal » est rapidement mis à rude épreuve. Trois jours après cet échange, juste avant 8 heures, une vingtaine d’agents débarquent au siège d’Uber à Paris pour une perquisition. Très agacé par ce qu’il perçoit comme une trahison, Mark MacGann demande en parallèle à ses collègues de lui passer les enquêteurs au téléphone pour « brandir Macron, Caze, etc. », dans l’idée de se prévaloir de leur soutien.

L’enquête, portant sur des soupçons d’évasion fiscale, est du ressort des services du ministère du budget, et non de ceux d’Emmanuel Macron. Mais cela n’empêche pas Mark MacGann d’envoyer immédiatement un SMS au ministre de l’économie, resté sans réponse : « Désolé de vous embêter, mais descente en ce moment d’une vingtaine de fonctionnaires de la direction des finances publiques. Ils disent qu’ils vont mettre [nos] dirigeants en garde à vue. (…) Nous avions l’espoir de pouvoir atteindre le fameux climat d’apaisement dès ce week-end. Pouvez-vous demander à vos services de nous conseiller ? »

Quelle était la motivation d’Emmanuel Macron pour s’impliquer, avec tant d’énergie, aux côtés d’une multinationale américaine à la réputation sulfureuse ? Une convergence de vues politique, d’abord, en faveur d’une dérégulation rapide. Mais aussi une certaine fascination pour Travis Kalanick. Dans le très controversé fondateur d’une des entreprises les plus « disruptives » de la dernière décennie, le futur président voyait, semble-t-il, une sorte de double. A la veille de leur première rencontre, une collaboratrice d’Uber relatait ainsi une discussion avec son cabinet : « Emmanuel Macron est très intéressé par l’histoire de Travis, miroir de la sienne – moins de 40 ans et réussite impressionnante. »

Sollicité, l’Elysée affirme que l’action de l’ancien ministre de l’économie rentrait dans le cadre classique des fonctions d’un ministre qui était « naturellement amené à échanger avec de nombreuses entreprises engagées dans la mutation profonde des services advenue au cours des années évoquées, qu’il convenait de faciliter en dénouant certains verrous administratifs ou réglementaires ».

Ces bonnes relations se sont-elles poursuivies après le départ d’Emmanuel Macron de Bercy, et son arrivée à l’Elysée ? D’après le registre de la Haute Autorité pour la transparence de la vie publique, des représentants d’Uber ont rencontré des collaborateurs du président Macron à huit reprises entre 2017 et 2022. En 2018, Dara Khosrowshahi, le bien plus fréquentable remplaçant de Travis Kalanick, faisait partie des invités de marque du sommet Tech for Good, voulu et organisé par le président de la République. Une rencontre publique, et en grande pompe, cette fois.

▻https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2022/07/10/uber-files-revelations-sur-le-deal-secret-entre-uber-et-macron-a-bercy_61342

#Emmanuel_Macron #loi_Thévenoud #UberPop #Mark_MacGann #Pierre-Dimitri_Gore-Coty #David_Plouffe #Travis_Kalanick #Uber_France #DGCCRF #lobbying #lobby #justice #kill_switch #perquisition #obstruction_à_la_justice #optimisation_fiscale

ENQUÊTE. Uber Files : comment Emmanuel Macron s’est impliqué lors de l’arrivée du géant du VTC en France
▻https://www.francetvinfo.fr/politique/affaire/uber-files/enquete-uber-files-comment-emmanuel-macron-s-est-implique-lors-de-l-arr

Des milliers de documents internes d’Uber datant de 2013 à 2017 révèlent que l’entreprise, confrontée à l’hostilité des pouvoirs publics et à de vastes ennuis judiciaires, a pu bénéficier de la bienveillance et de l’appui d’Emmanuel Macron lorsqu’il était au ministère de l’Économie.

Une société américaine qui passe en force pour s’implanter à l’étranger, ignore les règlementations en vigueur, travaille avec une banque russe sous sanctions, offre des cadeaux à des hommes politiques, instrumentalise ses chauffeurs, lorsqu’elle n’en fait pas des boucs émissaires. Une multinationale qui semble utiliser la violence comme arme de communication et cherche à échapper à l’impôt… Les Uber Files sont une plongée sidérante dans les dérives qui ont marqué l’expansion du groupe durant les années 2013-2017. À l’origine de cette vaste enquête : une fuite de 124 000 documents internes au géant des véhicules de transport avec chauffeur (VTC). Parmi ceux-ci : des e-mails, des échanges de SMS, des PowerPoint et toutes sortes de mémos qui permettent de détailler les méthodes qui ont été développées par Uber lorsque la multinationale était dirigée par le très controversé Travis Kalanick. Ces documents ont été transmis au quotidien britannique The Guardian, qui les a partagés avec le Consortium international des journalistes d’investigation (ICIJ) et ses partenaires, dont la cellule investigation de Radio France.

▻https://www.francetvinfo.fr/politique/affaire/uber-files/enquete-uber-files-revelations-sur-les-pratiques-de-lobbying-du-geant-d

On y apprend que pour exercer son influence et faire modifier les règlementations en sa faveur, le géant de la tech Uber a fait dresser une liste de plus de 1 850 « parties prenantes » – fonctionnaires en exercice, anciens fonctionnaires, groupes de réflexion et groupes de citoyens – dans plus de 30 pays. Il a également recruté d’anciens collaborateurs du président américain Barack Obama. Peu à peu, il a tissé un puissant réseau dont faisait notamment partie Emmanuel Macron lorsqu’il était ministre de l’Économie, de 2014 à 2016, le Premier ministre israélien l’époque, Benyamin Netanyahou, le Premier ministre irlandais d’alors, Enda Kenny, et Toomas Hendrik llves, qui présidait l’Estonie. Ont aussi été courtisés des oligarques proches du président russe Vladimir Poutine qui se sont vu proposer des bons de souscriptions en actions.

The Uber Files
►https://www.icij.org/investigations/uber-files

Quelques liens en vrac : l’argent russe (des oligarques, du cercle de Poutine) arrose depuis quelques dizaines d’années tous les politiciens, banquiers, marchands de luxe et d’immobilier qui en veulent. D’où ces « personnalités », pays, banques, dirigeants et « responsables » qui expliquent que ça va être très très compliqué de faire quoi que ce soit.

« Londongrad » aime l’argent russe
▻https://twitter.com/globalhlthtwit/status/1496753964058034178

Le Royaume-Uni est « addict » à l’argent russe (£15 billion UK property owned by Kremlin associates, 2,000+ UK companies involved in money laundering)
▻https://twitter.com/guyverhofstadt/status/1494239765348163587

les financiers de Londres adorent l’argent russe ▻https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/1496858968509284353

les politiciens comme Fillon aussi aiment l’argent russe ▻https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1496885266019196930

l’argent russe, les Allemands, les Italiens et les Hongrois l’aiment aussi beaucoup ▻https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/1496886660440932352

les banques suisses aiment l’argent russe ▻https://twitter.com/DrewOCCRP/status/1496860767521443845

Gary Kasparov résume la situation : une grosse part de l’argent de Poutine est dans les banques occidentales. Si on veut, on peut ▻https://twitter.com/Kasparov63/status/1496846542589902852

#russie #ukraine #argent

How the world’s richest defend their wealth, with help from a dedicated industry | Chuck Collins
▻https://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2021/06/how-the-worlds-richest-defend-their-wealth-with-help-from-a-dedicated-industry

Chuck Collins’ book, “The Wealth Hoarders”, subtitled “How billionaires pay millions to hide trillions,” offers insiders’ accounts of what’s described as the “wealth defense industry” — made up of a coalition of professionals from advisors to lawyers and accountants — and how it deploys anonymous shell companies, family offices, offshore accounts and trusts to help the world’s richest people shield their wealth from tax collectors. Source: via ICIJ

FinCEN Files - ICIJ (▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-fil...
▻https://diasp.eu/p/11684679

FinCEN Files - ICIJ | #abuse #banks #finance #FinCEN #ICIJ #investigation #laundering #money #moneylaundering #regulation

Confidential Clients (FinCEN Files)
▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/confidential-clients

How Africa’s richest woman exploited family ties, shell companies and inside deals to build an empire - ICIJ
▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/luanda-leaks/how-africas-richest-woman-exploited-family-ties-shell-companies-and-inside-dea

https://s3.amazonaws.com/www-s3-1.icij.org/uploads/2020/01/Cover-TheEngineer-V2.jpeg_effected_logo-1.jpg

Two decades of unscrupulous deals that made Isabel dos Santos Africa’s wealthiest woman and left oil- and diamond-rich Angola one of the poorest countries on Earth.
A web of more than 400 companies and subsidiaries in 41 countries linked to Isabel dos Santos or her husband, Sindika Dokolo, including 94 in secrecy jurisdictions like Malta, Mauritius and Hong Kong.
How a cadre of Western business advisers moved money, set up companies, audited accounts, suggested ways to avoid taxes and turned a blind eye to red flags that experts say should have raised serious concern.
Directed hundreds of millions of loans and contracts to her companies, or those linked to her, including a $38 million payment from the Angolan state oil company, which she ran, to a bank account in Dubai controlled by a friend, hours after she was fired her from her job.

Beyond the Camps: Beijing’s Long-Term Scheme of Coercive Labor, Poverty Alleviation and Social Control in #Xinjiang

After recruiting a hundred or more thousand police forces, installing massive surveillance systems, and interning vast numbers of predominantly Turkic minority population members, many have been wondering about Beijing’s next step in its so-called “war on Terror” in Xinjiang. Since the second half of 2018, limited but apparently growing numbers of detainees have been released into different forms of forced labor. In this report it is argued based on government documents that the state’s long-term stability maintenance strategy in Xinjiang is predicated upon a perverse and extremely intrusive combination of forced or at least involuntary training and labor, intergenerational separation and social control over family units. Much of this is being implemented under the heading and guise of “poverty alleviation”.

Below, the author identifies three distinct flow schemes by which the state seeks to place the vast majority of adult Uyghurs and other minority populations, both men and women, into different forms of coercive or at least involuntary, labor-intensive factory work. This is achieved through a combination of internment camp workshops, large industrial parks, and village-based satellite factories. While the parents are being herded into full-time work, their children are put into full-time (at least full day-time) education and training settings. This includes children below preschool age (infants and toddlers), so that ethnic minority women are being “liberated” and “freed” to engage in full-time wage labor. Notably, both factory and educational settings are essentially state-controlled environments that facilitate ongoing political indoctrination while barring religious practices. As a result, the dissolution of traditional, religious and family life is only a matter of time. The targeted use of village work teams and village-based satellite factories means that these “poverty alleviation” and social re-engineering projects amount to a grand scheme that penetrates every corner of ethnic minority society with unprecedented pervasiveness.

Consequently, it is argued that Beijing’s grand scheme of forced education, training and labor in Xinjiang simultaneously achieves at least five main goals in this core region of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): maintain the minority population in state-controlled environments, inhibit intergenerational cultural transmission, achieve national poverty reduction goals, promote economic growth along the BRI, and bring glory to the Party by achieving all of these four aims in a way that is ideologically consistent with the core tenets of Communist thought – using labor to transform religious minority groups towards a predominantly materialist worldview, akin to the Reform Through Labor (劳改) program. Government documents outline that the transformation of rural populations from farming to wage labor should involve not just the acquisition of new skills, but also a thorough identity and worldview change in line with Party ideology. In this context, labor is hailed as a strategic means to eradicate “extremist” ideologies.

The domestic and global implications of this grand scheme, where internment camps form only one component of a society-wide coercive social re-engineering strategy, are dramatic. Government documents blatantly boast about the fact that the labor supply from the vast internment camp network has been attracting many Chinese companies to set up production in Xinjiang, supporting the economic growth goals of the BRI.

Through the mutual pairing assistance program, 19 cities and provinces from the nation’s most developed regions are pouring billions of Chinese Yuan (RMB) into the establishment of factories in minority regions. Some of them directly involve the use of internment camp labor, while others use Uyghur women who must then leave their children in educational or day care facilities in order to engage in full time factory labor. Another aspect of Beijing’s labor schemes in the region involve the essentially mandatory relocation of large numbers of minority workers from Xinjiang to participating companies in eastern China.

Soon, many or most products made in China that rely at least in part on low-skilled, labor-intensive manufacturing, may contain elements of involuntary ethnic minority labor from Xinjiang.

The findings presented below call for nothing less than a global investigation of supply chains involving Chinese products or product components, and for a greatly increased scrutiny of trade flows along China’s Belt and Road. They also warrant a strong response from not only the international community in regards to China’s intrusive coerced social re-engineering practices among its northwestern Turkic minorities, but from China’s own civil society that should not want to see such totalitarian labor and family systems extended to all of China.

►https://www.jpolrisk.com/beyond-the-camps-beijings-long-term-scheme-of-coercive-labor-poverty-allev
#contrôle_social #travail_forcé #Chine #camps #minorités #pauvreté #Ouïghours #rééducation #Nouvelle_route_de_la_soie #Reform_Through_Labor (#劳改) #camps_d'internement

ping @reka @simplicissimus

China’s Operating Manuals for Mass Internment and Arrest by Algorithm - ICIJ

CHINA CABLES Exposed: China’s Operating Manuals for Mass Internment and Arrest by Algorithm. A new leak of highly classified Chinese government documents reveals the operations manual for running the mass detention camps in Xinjiang and exposed the mechanics of the region’s system of mass surveillance.

www.icij.org

▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-cables/exposed-chinas-operating-manuals-for-mass-internment-and-arrest-by-algorithm

Are women more likely to be harmed by medical device failures? - ICIJ
▻https://www.icij.org/blog/2018/12/are-women-more-likely-to-be-harmed-by-medical-device-failures

https://s3.amazonaws.com/www-s3-1.icij.org/uploads/2018/12/MistyLaura.png

The best source for gender-specific data on injuries and deaths linked to medical devices should be the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA collects that information in “adverse event” reports filed by manufacturers, doctors and others when a device has harmed a patient – or has experienced a malfunction that would lead to harm if it were to recur. An ICIJ analysis of this data identified more than 83,000 deaths and 1.7 million injuries linked to medical devices.

Yet the FDA won’t make gender information public. An agency spokeswoman told ICIJ that revealing gender or age would violate patient confidentiality rules and that more broadly, “conclusions can not be drawn” about sex-specific differences in adverse event rates, because the reports themselves often contain unverified and incomplete information.

#sexisme_médical #santé #implants #santé_publique #femmes

Implant Files - ICIJ
▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/implant-files

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Health authorities across the globe have failed to protect millions of patients from poorly tested implants, the first-ever global examination of the medical device industry reveals.

83 000 morts, 1,7 millions de victimes du manque de régulation des prothèses et implants. Méga enquête de l’ICIJ.

How the Panama Papers spooked Colombia’s elite to own up about their wealth - ICIJ
▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/how-the-panama-papers-spooked-colombias-elite-to-own-up-about-their-wealth

researcher Juliana Londoño Vélez […] matched the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Offshore Leaks data with detailed tax filings of more than 1,200 Colombians.

The publication of the Panama Papers, and a voluntary disclosure program aimed at encouraging taxpayers to report hidden assets, also made Colombian citizens more forthcoming about assets. Londoño-Vélez found that the Panama Papers “induced a ninefold increase” (an 830 percent spike) in what taxpayers disclosed to the Colombian tax agency about all their wealth halfway through the voluntary disclosure program that began in 2015.

#panama_papers #évasion_fiscale #riches

Cenozo | #WestAfricaLeaks
▻https://cenozo.org/en/sites/19-westafricaleaks

#panama_papers la suite, en #Afrique_de_l'Ouest

#paradis_fiscaux #offshore #évasion_fiscale

▻https://cenozo.org/fr/articles/81-ces-places-financieres-offshore-qui-siphonnent-les-richesses-de-l-039-afr

’Africa’s Satellite’ Avoided Millions Using A Very African Tax Scheme - ICIJ
▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/africas-satellite-avoided-millions-using-african-tax-scheme

https://s3.amazonaws.com/www-s3-1.icij.org/uploads/2018/02/Intelsat-New-Dawn-1400w.jpg

The New Dawn Satellite was proudly African – partly funded by local investors and promoted as a way for African schoolchildren, nurses, civil servants and businesses to access world-class internet and mobile phone networks.

But if its purpose was to promote African development, its tax strategy did exactly the opposite.

The companies behind the New Dawn Satellite channeled millions of dollars in payments from African companies and governments through offshore companies in Mauritius, one of the continent’s premier tax havens.

#espace #paradis_fiscaux #satellite #afrique

#Edouard_Perrin, Author at ICIJ
▻https://www.icij.org/journalists/edouard-perrin

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In 2014, Perrin worked with ICIJ on the Luxembourg Leaks investigation, based on the same set of secret documents, that revealed widespread aggressive tax avoidance by some of the world’s biggest brands.

Tax Haven Mauritius’ Rise Comes At The Rest of Africa’s Expense - ICIJ
▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/tax-haven-mauritius-africa

https://s3.amazonaws.com/www-s3-1.icij.org/uploads/2017/11/Mauritus-Interactive-Twitter.png

Using an array of complex schemes and companies that are little more than addresses on a piece of paper, this global system has helped corporations shift $100 billion to $300 billion a year in tax revenue away from developing countries, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists got a big leak & scoops—from Commerce Sec’s real
holdings to early Russian investment in FB & Twitter.

Paradise Papers: Secrets of the Global Elite - ICIJ
▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers

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Trump told voters he would put “America First.” But surrounding him are associates who have used tax havens to conduct business.
▻https://www.icij.org/article/us-president-donald-trumps-influencers

Two offshore firms, 19 secrecy jurisdictions, 13.4 million files. The Paradise Papers expose the secrets of the global elite.
▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/watch-the-paradise-papers-secrets-of-the-global-elite

The Power Players interactive explores the offshore companies linked to 40 politicians and their immediate relatives.
▻https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/explore-politicians-paradise-papers

Anya Schiffrin: “The link between advocacy and journalism is older than many of us think.”
►http://multinationales.org/Anya-Schiffrin-The-link-between-advocacy-and-journalism-is-older-th

A number of international tax avoidance scandals have come out over recent years, highlighting the important role played by investigative journalists in denouncing the corrupt practices of governments and corporations. Investigative journalism has been playing this role for decades, as the American journalist and teacher Anya Schiffrin explains. Schiffrin is the author of a collection of investigative articles on different issues across the globe. This interview was first published in our (...)

#Investigations

/ #freedom_of_expression_and_of_the_press, #public_campaign, #social_impact, #environmental_impact, human (...)

#human_rights
“►https://multinationales.org/Democratic-Information-in-an-Age-of-Corporate-Power”
“►https://www.icij.org”
“►https://www.occrp.org/en”
“▻https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._D._Morel”
“▻https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muckraker”
“►http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175886/tomgram%3A_anya_schiffrin,_who_knew_we_were_living_in_the_golden_age_of”
“►http://gijn.org/2016/06/20/a-golden-age-of-global-muckraking”