MON, 11 JULY, 2022-theGBJournal| A former top Uber lobbyist revealed himself on Monday as the source of the Uber Files leak, a huge trove of internal records that reveal how the ride-hailing giant built a massive influence machine to pave the road to global domination.
Mark MacGann, a 52-year-old Irishman, served as Uber’s chief lobbyist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa from 2014 to 2016 and oversaw government relations and public policy in more than 40 countries. He was tasked with managing the company’s chaotic global expansion, which was rife with violations of local transportation laws.
MacGann earlier this year handed more than 124,000 emails, text messages and internal company documents to The Guardian newspaper, a media partner of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. To effect a global investigation in the public interest, The Guardian shared the records with ICIJ, which organized a journalism collaboration that grew to include more than 40 media partners in 29 countries.
Leaked records reveal how some executives went to extraordinary lengths to grow Uber’s business there, quietly seeking alliances with billionaires and political figures close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and courting their favor through lucrative investment deals.
“There is no excuse for how the company played with people’s lives,” MacGann said. “I am disgusted and ashamed that I was a party to the trivialisation of such violence.”
MacGann, referred to as “MMG” in leaked emails, said in an exclusive interview with The Guardian that he decided to leak the documents, more than five years after resigning, to expose the company’s wrongdoing. In claiming to governments that changing rules in Uber’s favor would benefit drivers economically, “We had actually sold people a lie,” he told The Guardian.- By Nicole Sadek
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