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<ul class="summary-list"><li>An <keyword id="1042120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uber" source="Orion">Uber</keyword> <keyword id="12110043" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="whistleblower" source="Orion">whistleblower</keyword> leaked over 124,000 company documents to the media.</li><li>The whistleblower has named himself as former Uber top lobbyist <keyword id="14434139" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="mark-macgann" source="Orion">Mark MacGann</keyword>.</li></ul>The whistleblower behind a <keyword id="12259052" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="leak" source="Orion">leak</keyword> of over 124,000 internal Uber files to a group of media organizations including <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/10/what-are-the-uber-files-guide">The Guardian</a> has come forward as a former lobbyist for the company.<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/11/uber-files-whistleblower-lobbyist-mark-macgann">The Guardian</a> named the whistleblower as Mark MacGann, who worked at the company from 2014 to 2016 as its top lobbyist in Europe."I regret being part of a group of people which massaged the facts to earn the trust of drivers, of consumers and of political elites," MacGann told The Guardian in a report revealing his identity.MacGann said Uber had "sold people a lie" in convincing governments to change taxi laws on the basis the company would bring economic benefits."The company approach in these places was essentially to break the law, show how amazing Uber's service was, and then change the law. My job was to go above the heads of city officials, build relations with the top level of government, and negotiate. It was also to deal with the fallout," he said.MacGann took an active role in some company decisions that he now decries, and told The Guardian he had been "drunk on the Kool-Aid" during his tenure there, but had slowly grown disillusioned after he left the company.The documents MacGann leaked form the basis of a series of reports on Uber's past activities. So far the documents have revealed the company had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-files-leak-secret-kill-switch-blocked-data-from-police-2022-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">a secret "kill switch"</a> to block law enforcement from accessing data and that cofounder and former CEO Travis Kalanick <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-founder-travis-kalanicks-attempt-to-weaponize-drivers-report-2022-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">dismissed driver safety concerns</a>. In a statement to The Guardian an Uber spokesperson said: "We understand that Mark has personal regrets about his years of steadfast loyalty to our previous leadership, but he is in no position to speak credibly about Uber today."Kalanick stepped down as CEO in 2017 and was succeeded by current <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-delayed-subscription-service-uberone-lags-behind-competitors-dara-khosrowshahi-2022-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">CEO Dara Khosrowshahi</a>.Uber said in a statement to The Guardian that it recently reached a settlement with MacGann for $550,000 which it said resulted from MacGann claiming he was owed a bonus."It is noteworthy that Mark felt compelled to 'blow the whistle' only after his cheque cleared," Uber said in its statement.The Guardian reports MacGann contacted the paper five months before his settlement with Uber was reached. He also said he has yet to receive the full payout.Uber and MacGann did not immediately respond when contacted by Insider.

The Uber whistleblower who leaked 124,000 files is an ex-top lobbyist. He says he was 'drunk on the Kool-Aid' of the company.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Leaked documents reveal <keyword id="1042120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uber" source="Orion">Uber</keyword>'s co-founder dismissed concerns over drivers safety in violent protests against the ride-sharing app.</li><li>It was part of a strategy to keep "controversy burning," a former exec said, according to the Guardian.</li></ul>Uber co-founder and former CEO <keyword id="13320757" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="travis-kalanick" source="Orion">Travis Kalanick</keyword> reportedly dismissed concerns from executives over violent threats against drivers during turbulent taxi protests, documents leaked to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/10/uber-files-leak-reveals-global-lobbying-campaign?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">the Guardian</a> reveal. The documents suggest Kalanick urged drivers to participate in demonstrations against the ride-sharing app, and leveraged attacks against employees to pressure government officials to shift policies in favor of Uber.One former senior Uber executive who worked with Kalanick during taxi riots in France in 2016 recalled feeling the former CEO was trying to strategically "weaponize drivers" and keep "the controversy burning," <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/10/uber-files-leak-reveals-global-lobbying-campaign?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">the Guardian</a> reported. "If we have 50,000 riders they won't and can't do anything," Kalanick said in a message to executives in 2016, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/10/violence-guarantees-success-how-uber-exploited-taxi-protests">the Guardian</a>. "I think it's worth it. Violence guarantee[s] success. And these guys must be resisted, no? Agreed that right place and time must be thought out."The finding is part of a global investigation based on 124,000 internal Uber documents leaked to the Guardian and shared with a consortium of media outlets. Following Kalanick's comments, European Uber drivers were pushed to sign letters to the French president and prime minister to save their jobs as demonstrations backed by the company were organized, the documents allege.Uber went so far as to publish a manifesto in French media, according to the report.Mark MacGann, Uber's head of public policy for Europe, Middle East and Africa, voiced his concerns of violence against drivers in 2015 — a year prior to the Paris protests. At the time, nearly 100 drivers had been attacked and "dozens of cars destroyed." MacGann wrote a statement in response to the <keyword id="12259052" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="leak" source="Orion">leak</keyword>: "There is no excuse for how the company played with people's lives. I am disgusted and ashamed that I was a party to the trivialization of such violence," he wrote.Other executives also appeared willing to let violence continue in an effort to pressure governments into letting Uber bypass certain regulations, according to the Guardian. "We keep the violence narrative going for a few days, before we offer the solution," one manager wrote.In a statement shared with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-files-leak-secret-kill-switch-blocked-data-from-police-2022-7">Insider,</a> Jill Hazelbaker, Uber's svp of marketing and public affairs, said the company "will not make excuses for past behavior that is clearly not in line with our present values.""Instead, we ask the public to judge us by what we've done over the last five years and what we will do in the years to come," Hazelbaker said in the statement.

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick dismissed driver safety concerns in turbulent global taxi protests, told execs 'violence guarantees success,' reports say

<ul><li><keyword id="14418559" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="uber-files" source="Orion">Uber Files</keyword> have revealed how the ride-hailing giant played around loopholes and regulations in key global markets to expand its presence.</li><li>The files include 124,000 internal emails, text messages and internal documents of Uber.</li><li>The Uber Files also revealed that the company has an internal tactic called the “kill switch” to escape raids by the government.</li></ul>Uber has managed to disrupt the entire ride-hailing industry in a decade, becoming the lifeline for several towns and cities, even in India. The company’s extensive network of transportation has made traveling much more convenient but it may not have taken the straightest route to get there, leaked internal documents have revealed. A series of documents and messages being called the ‘Uber Files’ have revealed how the ride-hailing giant took advantage of loopholes in regulations in key global markets to expand its presence. The files include 124,000 internal emails, text messages and internal documents from within Uber. The files were obtained by The Guardian and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and a global consortium of newsrooms. The leaked records cover the period between 2013 and 2017. The documents were <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/express-exclusive/uber-files-investigation-illegal-ride-app-india-rape-8021194/">accessed</a> by The Indian Express. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Here’s what Uber Files revealed about its Indian operations" comment="subhead" text="Here’s what Uber Files revealed about its Indian operations">Here’s what Uber Files revealed about its Indian operations</cmsannotation> <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Shifting blame for driver’s misconduct" comment="subhead" text="Shifting blame for driver’s misconduct">Shifting blame for driver’s misconduct</cmsannotation> A female passenger was raped in an Uber cab by its driver in New Delhi in December 2014. Documents show that the company shifted the blame to the ‘flawed’ Indian licensing system that skipped background checks on drivers and allowed the accused to commit the rape. “It is important that we show compassion and express our willingness to develop a longer term solution to stop this pandemic of violence against women in India,” the company’s Head of Public Policy in Asia, Jordan Condo, wrote to the top leadership of the company. Several from the leadership did respond with ways to upgrade the system and maintain a country-wise document on background checks for both licensed and unlicensed drivers. In this email thread, Mark MacGann (then Uber’s Head of Public Policy for Europe and Middle East) and Niall Wass (then Uber’s Senior Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa) were seen shifting the blame to the Indian authorities. “We’re in crisis talks right now and the media is blazing…The Indian driver was indeed licensed, and the weakness/flaw appears to be in the local licensing scheme… the view in the US is that we can expect inquiries across our markets on the issue of background checks, in the light of what has happened in India,” MacGann said. Meanwhile, Wass wrote, “We had done what was required in terms of the Indian regulations. However it’s clear the checks required for a driver to obtain a commercial license from the authorities now appears to be insufficient as it appears the accused also had some previous rape allegations, which the Delhi police check did not identify (in what’s called a ‘character certificate.’).” Critical elements of the safety feature that it introduced following the rape incident are still not in place. The Indian Express report noted that Uber is yet to integrate the ‘panic button’ that every Uber cab is supposed to have, with the Delhi Police and State Transport Department systems. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The ‘Kill Switch’" comment="subhead" text="The ‘Kill Switch’">The ‘Kill Switch’</cmsannotation> The Uber Files also<a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/express-exclusive/uber-kill-switch-sop-india-8021187/"> revealed</a> that Uber has an internal tactic called the ‘kill switch’ to escape raids by the government. At the time of any raid, at any office, the IT staff were directed to cut off all access to the company’s main data system. This move prevented the authorities from gathering any evidence against the company. India was among the countries where Uber deployed the ‘Kill Switch’ tactic as it was facing regulatory issues with the Reserve Bank of India and governmental authorities like the <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/tax-authorities-say-uber-liable-for-service-tax-seek-information-from-india-subsidiary/articleshow/44726325.cms">Service Tax authorities</a>, Consumer Courts and Income Tax. The data show 13 instances between 2014-2016 when the ‘Kill Switch’ was used in Amsterdam, Montreal, Hong Kong, Budapest, Lyon and Paris. The reference to India comes in confidential emails dated February 10, 2015 — two months after the rape incident in New Delhi and the subsequent seven-month ban on its service. The emails titled ‘Uber Belgium/special tax inspectors’ in the context of anticipated tax raids in Belgium, refer to how the company blocked Indian authorities from accessing its data. “What we did in India is have the city team be as cooperative as possible and have BV (the company in Netherlands) take the heat. E.g. Whenever the local team was called to provide the information, we shut them down from the system making it practically impossible for them to give out any info despite their willingness to do so. At the same time we kept directing the authorities to talk to BV representatives instead. Not sure if that works here given they have telco info, but that bought us some months there,” Uber Manager, Rob van der Woude, wrote in the email thread. SEE ALSO <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/dmart-gets-it-mojo-back-from-monsoons-and-school-going-children/articleshow/92796927.cms" style="">Unlockdowned - DMart gets it mojo back from monsoons and school-going children</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/indias-most-wanted-borrower-vijay-mallya-gets-sentenced-to-4-months-in-jail/articleshow/92797349.cms" style="">India's most wanted borrower Vijay Mallya gets sentenced to 4 months in jail</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/this-is-why-it-costs-more-to-order-online-on-zomato-and-swiggy-than-to-dine-in/articleshow/92798769.cms" style="">This is why it costs more to order online on Zomato and Swiggy than to dine-in</a>

Uber Files — What they reveal about the company’s India operations

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1042120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uber" source="Orion">Uber</keyword> in 2014 tried to find "someone aligned with <keyword id="11909347" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="putin" source="Orion">Putin</keyword>" to help grow the app's influence in <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword>.</li><li>Head of business <keyword id="14436097" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="emil-michael" source="Orion">Emil Michael</keyword> added he knew little about Russian politics, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/11/uber-hired-oligarch-linked-lobbyist-russia-bribery-fears">The Guardian reported</a>.</li></ul>Uber sought to find "someone aligned with Putin" to spearhead its lobbying efforts in Russia in discussions about Moscow city officials' threats to ban the ride-sharing app in 2014, the company's former chief business officer said, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/11/uber-hired-oligarch-linked-lobbyist-russia-bribery-fears">per a Guardian report.</a>Emil Michael, the chief business officer at the time and a key ally of former CEO Travis Kalanick, acknowledged in the same conversation that he didn't know much about Russian politics, the report, part of the so-called "Uber Files" said.In 2015, as it attempted to build its influence in the Russian market, Uber approached a key associate of oligarch Roman Abramovich in an attempt to get the billionaire to invest in the company, which it hoped would help gain favor with the Kremlin, the report said. Abramovich chose not to invest.Uber then approached a number of pro-Kremlin oligarchs, eventually securing deals as "strategic allies" with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-oligarch-herman-gref-sberbank-added-us-sanctions-list-2022-3">Sberbank CEO Herman Gref</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-oligarch-alisher-usmanov-sanctions-wealth-putin-kremlin-money-ukraine-2022-3">Putin ally</a> Alisher Usmanov, Alfa-Bank co-founder Mikhail Fridman, and investor <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sanctioned-russian-oligarch-petr-aven-investment-firm-scared-meet-up-2022-3">Petr Aven.</a>All these men are Russian billionaires who were this year sanctioned by the EU following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.In 2016, the company struck a deal with Vladimir Senin, an influential lobbyist who is now a member of Russia's parliament. It initially agreed to pay him $650,000, though that fee was later lowered to $300,000, the Guardian reports.Uber no longer has any association with Senin, and exited the Russian market in 2017. It maintains a relationship with Russian ride-sharing company Yandex.Taxi, but <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/uber-remove-executives-yandex-joint-venture-2022-02-28/">began winding down operations early in 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine.</a>An Uber spokesperson told The Guardian: "We certainly would not engage with Mr Senin or others like him today."Uber's spokesperson added that the current Uber leadership "disavows any previous relationships with anyone connected to the Putin regime."Michael, a member of the inner circle of former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/emil-michael-uber-chief-business-officer-to-leave-company-report-2017-6">resigned in 2017</a> amid an investigation into the company's work culture. He did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.The revelations emerged from a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-whistleblower-comes-forward-former-lobbyist-mark-macgann-2022-7">trove of documents leaked</a> by former European lobbyist Mark MacGann, dubbed "The Uber Files."

Uber looked to find 'someone aligned with Putin' and paid a pro-Kremlin lobbyist $300,000 as it sought to grow its influence in Russia, report says

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1042120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uber" source="Orion">Uber</keyword> paid out six-figure fees to <keyword id="13090427" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="academics" source="Orion">academics</keyword> for positive research used in the media, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/12/uber-paid-academics-six-figure-sums-for-research-to-feed-to-the-media">the Uber Files revealed</a>.</li><li>The tech company funded academic research to use as ammunition in politics and the media.</li></ul>Uber paid consultants fees of up to $100,000 to academics in 2015 in order to steer favorable press coverage and paint a positive image of the company, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/12/uber-paid-academics-six-figure-sums-for-research-to-feed-to-the-media">The Guardian has revealed</a>.Professor Augustin Landier, a French economist, negotiated a €100,000 ($100,064) fee to produce a report that would be "actionable" for the company's public relations team to "prove Uber's positive economic role."Professor David Thesmar, another high-profile economist who was working at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris at the time, worked with Landier on the project.Speaking to the Financial Times <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/bf3d0444-e129-11e5-9217-6ae3733a2cd1">for a story</a> on Uber's operations in France, Thesmar described the ride-sharing app as a "social game-changer." Thesmar now works as a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management.The 2016 FT article was titled "Uber: a route out of the French banlieues," referring to deprived suburbs on the outskirts of Paris and other cities. It included testimony from a number of people who praised Uber for creating jobs, including one man who said the service saved him from a life of crime.The story was celebrated internally. One person said, "Wow!" — praising the team which "landed it," The Guardian reported.The FT told the Guardian that the story was based on extensive research and that it was not directly approached by Uber PR about the story. The story contains reporting on the downsides of working for Uber, including the story of one man who said working 13-hour days driving for the company yielded lower pay than a previous temporary job.The revelations are part of a series of reports on Uber's tactics to influence politicians and the press, dubbed The <keyword id="14418101" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uber-files" source="Orion">Uber Files</keyword>. On Monday, the whistleblower who leaked thousands of documents to the newspaper <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-whistleblower-comes-forward-former-lobbyist-mark-macgann-2022-7">revealed himself</a> as Mark MacGann, a former career lobbyist at Uber. In Uber's response to the investigation, senior vice-president of public affairs Jill 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 labour unions and taxi companies."Professors Landier and Thesmar did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.They told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/12/uber-paid-academics-six-figure-sums-for-research-to-feed-to-the-media">The Guardian</a> that their paid consultancy fees were properly declared and made transparent.

Uber paid academics up to $100,000 for research used to spearhead positive media coverage

Why are so many remote workers deciding to squeal on their companies?When Simon Edelman blew the whistle on his former employer, the US Department of Energy, he couldn't have known that his act of defiance was at the forefront of a growing national trend. In 2017, Edelman was a photographer for the DOE. As the department was moving forward with a series of new rules that would have boosted the coal industry, he decided to anonymously leak photographs to the progressive news site <a href="https://inthesetimes.com/features/murray_energy_trump_doe_coal_industry_grid_plan.html">In These Times</a> of a meeting between the Energy Secretary Rick Perry and the CEO of one of the country's largest coal companies. The photos showed the executive presenting DOE officials with a pro-coal regulatory plan and giving Perry, a former governor of Texas, a hug. The day after the photos were published, Edelman was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/business/rick-perry-energy-photographer.html">escorted</a> out of the DOE offices, prohibited from taking his personal laptop, and, he says, had his photo equipment taken away.The department fired Edelman, despite, he says, never investigating or confirming that he was the whistleblower. (Edelman took the photos, but they were uploaded on a shared drive that other employees had access to). Edelman eventually did come forward publicly in a New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/business/rick-perry-energy-photographer.html">article</a> in January 2018 and admitted to leaking the photos, saying he wanted to "expose the close relationship between the two men." He also filed a complaint with the department, claiming whistleblower status, a formal designation that protects people who report ethical or legal violations, fraud, abuse, or other wrongdoing inside companies and government agencies from retaliation. Edelman said the department ultimately came up with a settlement that both parties agreed upon.But after a whirlwind news cycle about his case, Edelman experienced the silent retaliation that dogs many whistleblowers: He couldn't find a job. "They happened to Google my name," he told me of his various interviewers, "and I didn't get a response back." Edelman's experience as a whistleblower, both the highs and lows, are becoming more common. A series of high-profile whistleblowers have come forward over the past few years: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/theranos-whistleblowers-launch-company-to-help-startups-avoid-mistakes-2019-4">Tyler Shultz and Erika Cheung</a> at Theranos, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-papers-mark-zuckerberg-frances-haugen-leaked-docs-2021-10">Frances Haugen</a> at Facebook, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-whistleblower-comes-forward-former-lobbyist-mark-macgann-2022-7">Mark MacGann</a> at Uber, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-insiders-reluctantly-agree-with-some-whistleblower-revelations-peiter-zatko-2022-8">Peiter "Mudge" Zatko</a> at Twitter. And it's not just at big tech companies. The Securities and Exchange Commission — which implemented a whistleblower program in 2011 and where Haugen and others have sent documents — has received a historic jump in complaints over the past few years. In fiscal year 2021, the SEC said it received 12,210 tips, a 76% increase from the year prior and a 300% growth rate since the start of the program. The program broke the record again this fiscal year with over 12,300 tips — a 136% increase from 2019. (For comparison, in fiscal year 2012, the first year the program has data for, it received just 3,000 tips.)And this surge may not be a coincidence: The extra time and space workers gained from the pandemic and the rise of remote work have caused an environment favorable to whistleblowers, helping to ignite an explosion in complaints. <h2>How remote work sparked a flood of whistleblowers</h2>As the pandemic spread and workers retreated to their makeshift home offices, employees began to reconsider their relationship with work. The space between employer and employee helped many people come to terms with the malfeasance happening at their companies and, eventually, report it. MacGann, the Uber whistleblower, told <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/uber-says-it-has-changed-former-lobbyist-mark-macgann-has-his-doubts/">Politico</a> that it wasn't until the pandemic that he "had time on his hands" to really ponder his decision to come forward about the ride-hailing company's treatment of workers.Mary Inman, a partner at Constantine Cannon who has been representing whistleblowers for 25 years, told me that virtual work has likely encouraged whistleblowing, because employees haven't developed the same loyalty to their employers as they would in person. "The risks seem farther off when you're in a remote environment," she said. And as workers around the country have reconsidered their jobs and quit in droves, allegiances have shifted. "All that naval-gazing led to people being more willing to undertake the risk that is inherent in blowing the whistle," said Inman.Joohn Choe worked as a contract disinformation and extremism researcher for Facebook following the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. While working from home, he discovered that the company was allowing people sanctioned by the US government to continue using the platform even after he raised concerns internally. He eventually grew tired of the company dragging its feet and filed a complaint with the Treasury Department and the Department of Justice. In his complaint, Choe <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21409762-redacted-meta-belarus-ofac-doj-nsd-disclosure-2021_12_3-final-locked-redacted-sanitized_opt?responsive=1&amp;title=1">alleged</a> Meta was knowingly violating US sanction laws by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/10/russia-rebels-sanctions-facebook/">not removing</a> the accounts of the sanctioned individuals. While the work-from-home setup was not new for Choe, he understands that the remote environment can "reset your standards about what forms of exploitation you're willing to accept.""Without those conformity signals of going to the office and having someone look over your shoulder, it ends up being, 'What am I getting out of this job? What is this work doing to me?'" he told me. "And these are questions that are much easier to ask when you're in the stillness of your own home, in the environment of your own mind."Libby Liu, the CEO of Whistleblower Aid, echoed this idea. Tech companies, she said, often try to foster a familial culture of "groupthink" where the work transcends the individual. This, in turn, creates a situation of social intimidation and peer pressure where employees who go out and "share a secret" are characterized as disloyal or a snitch. Remote work, she explained, helps to remove some of those barriers to whistleblowing."If you're in an office all day, every day with everybody else and people who are making the Kool-Aid, drinking the Kool-Aid, buying the Kool-Aid — I think it makes it so much more difficult," she told me.<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-04-12/medicare-fraud-whistleblowers-accuse-insurers-of-faking-claims-to-make-billions#xj4y7vzkg">Teresa Ross first raised concerns</a> about her employer, Group Health Cooperative, back in 2011. When she told her superiors that she believed the company was <a href="https://casetext.com/case/united-states-ex-rel-ross-v-indep-health-corp">submitting false insurance claims</a> for Medicare reimbursement, therefore defrauding the government, she was dismissed by leadership and told she wasn't a team player. As a manager, she was also told not to disclose her concerns to her subordinates. When the company eventually brought in a psychologist to meet with her, she told me that "they made me start to question my own sanity." Then, in 2012, she met Inman, the lawyer at Constantine Cannon, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/10/18/770466908/whistleblower-alleges-fraud-at-a-large-medicare-advantage-plan-in-seattle">filed a complaint</a> under the False Claims Act alleging Medicare fraud. The case was under seal for eight years, meaning Ross couldn't tell anyone about her case. The government ended up <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdny/pr/medicare-advantage-provider-pay-63-million-settle-false-claims-act-allegations">settling for over $6 million</a>.Whistleblower cases are increasingly ending up like Ross' — with real action and compensation for the tipsters. In addition to the record-breaking number of tips, the SEC whistleblowing program awarded $229 million in 103 cases this year. In fiscal year 2021, that dollar amount was almost double at $564 million, more than the entire amount awarded from 2011 to 2020. According to the agency, these are awards for "providing information that led to the success of SEC and other agencies' enforcement actions." Since the program began in 2011, it has paid out <a href="https://www.sec.gov/files/2022_ow_ar.pdf">more than $1.3 billion.</a> <h2>A surge of COVID whistleblowers</h2>It's perhaps not surprising that the pandemic helped trigger a whistleblowing boom. In many ways, the public's awareness of COVID-19 was kicked off by a whistleblower: Li Wenliang. An ophthalmologist in Wuhan, China, Li warned colleagues about the virus in December 2019 before being <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51403795">detained by Chinese security forces and accused</a> of "making false comments," spreading rumors, and disturbing "the social order." He died of COVID in February 2020. In the US, whistleblowing complaints around worker safety increased exponentially during the early days of the pandemic. The US Department of Labor found that the <a href="https://www.oig.dol.gov/public/reports/oa/2020/19-20-010-10-105.pdf">number of complaints filed</a> to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's whistleblower program rose by 30% between February and May 2020. One such whistleblower was Dawn Wooten. Two years ago, she didn't even know what a whistleblower was. But she did know what she saw and heard while working as a nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia. The center is operated by LaSalle Corrections, a private corporation, and Wooten says that during the height of COVID, she observed cases going unreported to the health department, medical documents being shredded, and masks not being issued to detainees. She <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/14/ice-detention-center-nurse-whistleblower/">started raising concerns internally</a> but said her supervisor turned her away and told her, "Get the hell out of my office." After being demoted, she found Project South and the Government Accountability Project, which filed complaints to the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General on her behalf. According to the complaint <a href="https://projectsouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/OIG-ICDC-Complaint-1.pdf">Project South</a> filed, Wooten also alleged that the facility flouted quarantine guidelines, that the warden allowed individuals who had COVID to be transferred to the facility, and that detainees who complained of symptoms were not tested. "I didn't want to be a part of people being treated like animals," she told me. Like Edelman, since she started speaking out in the summer of 2020, Wooten has had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/17/whistleblower-uterus-collector-repercussions-ice-detained-immigrant-women">difficulty finding long-term work</a>. <h2>Companies cracking down</h2>This growing willingness on the part of everyday people to speak up about wrongdoing at their companies has left many businesses in a precarious position. Ideally, this would lead to a corporate culture shift where employees are able to raise concerns internally without any backlash or fear. But we live in a far from ideal world and experts say the rise in whistleblowing may only cause executives and managers to surveil their workers more.Kate Kenny, a professor at the University of Galway and a researcher for Whistleblowing Impact, told me that while there is "more consciousness around whistleblowing," the use of "silencing mechanisms" such as keyboard tracking, <a href="https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/AMBPP.2021.15969abstract#">nondisclosure agreements</a>, and <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/its-time-federal-anti-slapp-law-protect-online-speakers">lawsuits</a> against whistleblowers are on the rise. And some companies are going to extremes to monitor remote employees: The use of facial recognition and other monitoring technologies has doubled in the past year, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/09/24/remote-work-from-home-surveillance/">according to a Washington Post report</a>. In the past decade, more protections and laws have been established to protect and encourage whistleblowers, such as the just-launched <a href="https://integrity-sanctuary.org/">Integrity Sanctuary</a> which offers a safe haven in Canada for international whistleblowers. There is also technology like Vault Platform that includes software for whistleblowers to report anonymously. As someone who has worked with whistleblowers for over two decades, Inman believes that the culture shift brought on by the pandemic and remote work could lead to more permanent change. She sees whistleblowers as a necessity — and the reason that companies are now in a vulnerable position."You cannot replace the power of a whistleblower insider in helping law enforcement to root out fraud," Inman said.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/britta-lokting">Britta Lokting</a> is a journalist in New York. She's written for The New York Times, The Washington Post Magazine, VICE, and elsewhere.

Remote workers are blowing the whistle on the shady practices their companies are up to

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortunelivemedia/9354431966">Flickr/FortuneLiveMedia</a>Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.</div></div></div>The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, is planning to hold talks with policymakers across its member states to see how they are blocking the expansion efforts of companies like Uber and Airbnb, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-13/eu-courts-shared-economy-boom-as-nations-scrap-over-regulations" target="_blank">Bloomberg reports</a>.Each of Europe's 28 member states have their own set of laws that US technology giants and others must try and navigate when they expand to the continent.The relatively new sharing economy companies - those that allow people to let out their properties, possessions or services, in exchange for a fee - have faced court battles across Europe. Uber, for example, has been in court in London and Berlin for its disruptive taxi-app that stands to put licensed taxi drivers out of business, while Airbnb has had to navigate decades-old subletting laws in some cases that stop people from renting out their rooms.According to Bloomberg, the European Commission wants to have discussions with member states to find out how national rules may be blocking the expansion efforts of new technology companies. It believes that removing legislative roadblocks could help fuel the European economy at a time when countries like Greece and Portugal are facing austerity.Following the discussions, the Commission is expected to issue guidance on how EU law applies to collaborative business models, according to Bloomberg.EU Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen told the financial media organisation that there needs to be a dialogue between the Commission and member states "in order to raise their awareness that there's a contradiction that might have a negative impact to economic growth in their country."If they are in contradiction with the EU law, then we will use our enforcement policy to ensure compliance of the EU law."Mark MacGann, Uber's head of public policy for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, told Bloomberg that the European Union can't afford to "obfuscate and drag its feet."He added: "The unemployed youth in places like Spain, they're not going to forgive the European Union if it considers this new collaborative economy as a problem to be solved, rather than an opportunity to be seized."Katainen said the EU needs to look at why countries chose their existing regulations before introducing new ones. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gadget-designer-yves-behar-innovation-2015-12">Silicon Valley's most creative designer reveals the next wave of innovation - and we can't wait</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="MwMjNrdzrgf4pLDM02uGYosl_yw2msn-" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

The EU is going to look at how its member states are blocking companies like Uber and Airbnb

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>Uber has pulled back its operations in the German city of Frankfurt, <a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/01/04/technology/ubers-no-holds-barred-expansion-strategy-fizzles-in-germany.html?referer=http://nuzzel.com/sharedstory/01032016/nytimes/ubers_noholdsbarred_expansion_strategy_fizzles_in_germany_2?utm_campaign=news-alert&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=app&amp;_r=1" target="_blank">a</a><a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/01/04/technology/ubers-no-holds-barred-expansion-strategy-fizzles-in-germany.html?referer=http://nuzzel.com/sharedstory/01032016/nytimes/ubers_noholdsbarred_expansion_strategy_fizzles_in_germany_2?utm_campaign=news-alert&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=app&amp;_r=1" target="_blank">ccording to The New York Times</a>.The company, now <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/ubers-billionth-car-ride-takes-place-in-london-2015-12" target="_blank">valued at $62.5 billion (£42.4 billion)</a>, shut its Frankfurt office in November after just 18 months in operation, The Times reported.The retreat is said to have come after local licensed taxi drivers in the city refused to work with the American firm whose taxi app has now been used to facilitate over <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/ubers-billionth-car-ride-takes-place-in-london-2015-12" target="_blank">one billion journeys worldwide</a>.Uber's relatively cheap UberPop service, similar to UberX in the United States, faced legal hurdles in Frankfurt and was eventually banned last March by German regulators.Following the shutdown of UberPop, the company tried to recruit licensed taxi operators but they weren't interested, according to The New York Times.Uber's withdrawal from Frankfurt is one of several retreats out of European cities by the San Francisco-headquartered firm in recent months.Uber withdrew its service from Hamburg and Dusseldorf in November after less than two months in each of the German cities. It also stopped offering UberPop in Amsterdam recently.Elsewhere in Europe, licensed taxi drivers in cities such Madrid and Paris are yet to settle with Uber, while regulators in London are <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/uber-london-tfl-proposals-2015-9" target="_blank">considering new laws</a> that could impact Uber's operations in the <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword> capital.Frankfurt is home to one of Europe's leading financial centres and a relatively cosmopolitan population, making it a sensible city for Uber to operate in. In addition, Frankfurt also has a cap on the number of licensed taxis, with only 1,700 cars available, which isn't always enough to meet demand.But Uber failed to get to grips with German taxi laws, according to a German-based academic. "If you want to be successful in Germany, you have to understand the regulation," Martin Fassnacht, a professor at the Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar, Germany, told The New York Times. "Uber should have taken that more seriously."Uber still operates licensed services in German cities like Berlin and Munich, albeit with licensed taxi drivers.The six-year-old company claims that it could create thousands of new jobs in Germany if it is allowed to operate there freely.Uber has asked the European Commission to intervene and an official European investigation into Germany's ban on UberPop - along with similar rulings in France and Spain - is expected to be undertaken in 2016."Have we made mistakes? Absolutely," Mark MacGann, Uber's head of European policy, told The New York Times. "But the current system in Germany artificially protects incumbents who think they have the right to own the market." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-apple-iphone-6s-comparison-features-2015-12">7 ways the Samsung Galaxy S6 is better than the iPhone 6s</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="RvcmIyeDrz5o1xUM5hqpulpdksh9vTWQ" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

You Searched For "mark macgann" and got 8 results

The Uber whistleblower who leaked 124,000 files is an ex-top lobbyist. He says he was 'drunk on the Kool-Aid' of the company.

Isobel Asher Hamilton

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick dismissed driver safety concerns in turbulent global taxi protests, told execs 'violence guarantees success,' reports say

Jordan Hart

Uber Files — What they reveal about the company’s India operations

Kritti Bhalla

Uber looked to find 'someone aligned with Putin' and paid a pro-Kremlin lobbyist $300,000 as it sought to grow its influence in Russia, report says

Rosie Bradbury

Uber paid academics up to $100,000 for research used to spearhead positive media coverage

Rosie Bradbury

Remote workers are blowing the whistle on the shady practices their companies are up to

Britta Lokting

The EU is going to look at how its member states are blocking companies like Uber and Airbnb

Sam Shead

Uber shut down its Frankfurt office after just 18 months in operation

Sam Shead

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