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French President Emmanuel Macron has attracted a lot of attention recently, but the problems he faces seem to be impossible to ignore. According to the Guardian, multiple leaked documents revealed the inside story of Uber's expansion of the market between 2013 and 2017 through lobbying and collusion with politicians. Surprisingly, Macron was also caught up in the turmoil when he was France's finance minister.
The number of documents exposed is enormous, totaling more than 124,000, containing 83,000 emails and 1,000 other conversation files, spanning the period from 2013 to 2017. At the time, Uber founder Travis Kalanick was trying to force the ride-hailing model around the world, spanning 40 countries and regions, even if it violated local laws and taxi rules.
To that end, Uber secretly works with politicians, billionaires, oligarchs and media moguls around the world, who use this means to pressure governments to try to change the law and pave the way for the company's market expansion. It is worth mentioning that when Uber faced protests from taxi drivers in France, Macron showed firm support.
The exposed documents even show text messages between Kalanick and Macron. Emmanuel Macron, then France's finance minister, appeared to fully support Uber, even telling them that he had reached a secret "deal" with the opposition in the French cabinet. This is truly shocking.
In 2016, Uber plans to spend $90 million on lobbying and public relations activities. In addition, public reports show that in addition to meeting with then-US Vice President Joe Biden at the Davos forum, Uber executives also had face-to-face meetings with Macron, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kennye, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and then British Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne. In the minutes, Osborne was described by Uber as a "strong advocate."
Osborne later said in a statement that the government's clear policy at the time was to meet with global tech companies and "persuade them to invest in the UK and create jobs here". In 2016, Uber successfully obtained a license to operate in the United Kingdom, but angry taxi drivers surrounded Whitehall, reflecting that the situation was not satisfactory.
In addition to reaching out to politicians, Uber pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to prominent academics to support research on the merits of its economic model in an attempt to shape the country's policy debate. However, despite ample funding and lobbying, Uber's results have been mixed. In some countries and regions, Uber has succeeded in persuading the government to change the law, but in others, it still has difficulties.
Notably, Uber executives and employees have also privately expressed concern about the way the company is run, with one executive writing in an email: "We are illegal in many countries, and we should avoid hostile speech." Another executive said, "We are officially pirates." In 2014, Uber's head of global communications said in a message that "we have problems because we broke the law." "
Behind this leak, there was widespread social reflection. It reminds us that, in an era of globalization and technological change, how multinational corporations operate and how they relate to politics are worth examining. For Macron, the incident could be a stumbling block in his political career, but it could also prompt more countries to censor and regulate the activities of tech giants.
Taken together, the incident once again highlights the complex controversy surrounding global businesses in their expansion and how politicians play a role in that process. In the future, we will need more transparency and regulation to ensure a fair and legal playing field.
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