“I’m here as a whistleblower. I’m the one who revealed what became known as the Uber Files.” The revelation was made by Mark MacGann, once one of the most relevant names in the company, in an interview with The Guardian.
He came to be called an “international criminal” by taxi drivers in various parts of the world, participated in “secret meetings” in which he had the sole objective of trying to persuade governments, ministers, prime ministers, presidents and conductors of “something that turned out to be horribly wrong and a lie.”
And that’s why MacGann justifies having made public thousands of documents that expose the hidden truth of what is now one of the largest passenger transport companies in the world, Uber.
“It’s about fixing some things, it’s about doing what’s right. I am responsible for what I did. But if I’ve tried to persuade governments, ministers, prime ministers, presidents and conductors of something that turns out to be horribly wrong and a lie, then it’s up to me to step back and say I think we’ve made a mistake. I want to play this role and try to correct a mistake,” confides MacGann.
“We sell people a lie”
Mark MacGann was one of the men who led Uber’s efforts to ensure it continued to gain power and influence over governments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Now the whistleblower responsible for making more than 124 thousand company documents public is revealed.
MacGann says he decided to speak out because he believes the company knowingly flouted laws in dozens of countries and misled parts of the world about the benefits the business model would bring to the company’s drivers. He adds that he feels responsible and that this has led him to take the attitude that was at the origin of Uber Files.
“I’m partly responsible and that’s my motivation for what I’m doing and for becoming a whistleblower. Obviously it is not an easy thing to do, but as I was there at the time, as I was the one who spoke to the governments, I was the one who promoted the campaign in the media, I was the one who told the people that they should change the laws because that would benefit drivers and people would have more economic opportunities. When it turned out that this would not be the case, then we sold people a lie. How can we stay with a clear conscience when we don’t stand up and take responsibility for our contribution to how people are treated today?
Mark MacGann does not hide that he had “disagreements with Uber in the past”, but explains that he decided to move forward because he believed that this “is the right thing”, remembering that it was not and is not being an easy or simple task. Now 52, Mark acknowledges that he was one of the faces of Uber’s core team and is no innocent part of all the conduct he has been describing. In an exclusive interview with the British newspaper, MacGann acknowledges that he decided to move forward, in part, also motivated by remorse and explains why he did not do so before, choosing to resign.
“That was not a culture where one could instigate or question the company’s decisions or strategy. So ultimately I realized that I had no impact, that I was wasting my time at the company and that feeling, at that point in my career, combined with the fact that I was concerned not only about my own safety but also about the safety of the company. my family, my friends, led to my resignation”, he reveals.
MacGann was one of the most powerful men in the Uber between 2014 and 2016, which puts him at the center of all decisions taken at the highest levels of the company during periods when the company was forcing its entry into several world markets, in a clear disregard for taxi licenses.
The whistleblower was one of those who oversaw attempts to persuade governments to change taxi regulations and create a more favorable business market in more than 40 countries and in all of them with the same quasi-guerrilla approach. “The mantra that people kept repeating from one office to the next was the mantra at the top: don’t ask permission, just launch, go out there, recruit drivers, go out, do the marketing and quickly people will wake up and see the thing. fantastic that Uber is,” says Mark MacGann.
MacGann highlights the ease with which Uber has infiltrated the highest echelons of power in countries such as the UK, France and Russia, calling the strategy “intoxicating”, “deeply unfair” and “undemocratic”. “Uber was the most desired ticket. Both among investors and on the political side, people almost ran over each other to have a meeting with Uber and hear what we had to offer.”
“Keep the fire burning”
As for statements by former executive director Travis Kalanick, – who stepped down in 2017 –, who said that “Violence guarantees success”, MacGann says he “thinks he meant that the only way for governments to change the rules, legalize Uber and allow it to grow is to keep the fight going, keep the controversy burning – and if that meant Uber drivers went on strike, blocked Barcelona, blockade Berlin or Paris, then that would be the way to go.” The now whistleblower now says that this was a “very selfish” and “dangerous” tactic. “He was not the one on the streets being threatened, being attacked and being beaten and in some cases shot.”
MacGann points out that he was the target of death threats and that he was persecuted and that all this terror spread to his family and friends. “Taxi drivers followed me, filmed where I lived, knocked on my door, posted pictures online of me, my friends, my friends’ children.” And what was Uber’s response to seeing that one of its strongmen was under fire? Private security “forced me to have bodyguards whenever I left the house,” he explains.
“I believe that Uber was responsible for the fact that the company did not change the way it operated. The response to violence against one of his senior executives was to give him bodyguards. There was no change in behavior, no change in tactics, no change in tone; was keep the fight, keep the fire burning,” says Mark MacGann.
The British newspaper The Guardian led a global investigation into the documents made public by Mark MacGann about Uber, having shared the documents with media organizations around the world, through the International Consortium of Investigative Investigative Journalists.
In response to the allegations, Uber acknowledged past failures but insisted the company had transformed and changed practices under the leadership of new leader Dara Khosrowshahi, thereby refusing to go forward with any public apology. “We do not and will not apologize for past behavior that clearly does not align with our current values,” a spokesperson told The Guardian.
The confidential Uber documents that were made public by Mark MacGann include presentations, white papers, security reports and tens of thousands of emails and information in applications like WhatsApp, iMessage and other messaging software that the most powerful personalities company used at the time.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
