After last year’s whistleblowing revelations relating to practices at Facebook, the Uber files published by the Guardian on Monday constitute another seminal big tech morality tale. The price of this thirst for disruption was paid by the drivers, whom Uber refused to acknowledge as employees – preferring the convenient fiction that they were self-employed contractors. The files testify to an unconscionable executive disregard for the physical safety of those on the frontline of Uber’s brave new world. In a statement responding to the leak, Uber has distanced itself from and condemned the wild west ethos embodied by Mr Kalanick during the years of aggressive expansion. The Uber files provide the latest incontestable evidence that a new era of digital regulation is required.

Source: The Guardian July 11, 2022 18:55 UTC