Uber obtained 400,000 stories of sexual misconduct from 2017 to 2022

Between 2017 and 2022, 400,181 Uber journeys resulted in stories of sexual assault or sexual misconduct within the US, or round one each eight minutes, in response to sealed paperwork seen by The New York Times. The corporate had solely disclosed 12,522 accounts of great sexual assaults throughout the identical time interval. The report relies on interviews with present a former workers, inner paperwork and court docket data below seal as a part of “large-scale sexual assault litigation in opposition to Uber.”

“There isn’t a ‘tolerable’ stage of sexual assault,” Uber’s US head of security Hanna Nilles instructed the NYT. She added that about 75 p.c of the stories had been “much less severe,” together with feedback a few passenger’s look, flirting or utilizing express language. As well as, stories had not been audited by the corporate and will have embody incorrect or fraudulent stories submitted by passengers.

Publicly, Uber has said in advertising and marketing campaigns that it is one of many most secure choices for journey, citing the rarity of assaults. Nonetheless, the NYT notes that the corporate had didn’t take actions that may doubtless have improved passenger safety — like pairing feminine passengers with feminine drivers, utilizing subtle matching algorithms and warning passengers about elements linked to assaults.

In a number of instances cited by the report, drivers with a recorded sample of inappropriate habits had been saved on the platform after which proceeded to sexually assault passengers. It additionally exhibits that Uber rejected security measures like cameras in automobiles in order to not disrupt its enterprise mannequin dictating that drivers are contractors and never workers. It additionally stopped a possible function pairing feminine drivers with feminine passengers over fears of stoking tradition wars, amongst different enterprise causes.

Uber instructed the NYT that thousands and thousands of rides occur every day and overwhelming majority within the US, round 99.9 p.c happen with out incident. Nonetheless, with particulars of horrific assaults and Uber wilfully failing to take care of the issue, the report is yet another damning indictment of the corporate’s growth-above-all tradition.