Irish Lobbyist Mark MacGann Says He’s an Uber Reporter

​Irish lobbyist Mark MacGann told the newspaper “The Guardian” that he is the informant of the practices of the mobility platform Uber and that he provided the British newspaper with thousands of compromising documents about the American company.

MacGann, who led the platform’s lobbying efforts in Europe, Africa and the Middle East between 2014 and 2016, decided to speak out because he believes Uber broke the law in dozens of countries and misled people about the benefits of the company’s model, according to the report. The Guardian.

At the age of 52, he admitted his share of responsibility for the facts he denounced today: “I was the one who spoke to governments, who promoted (the Uber model) in the media, who said that it was necessary to change the rules because it would benefit drivers , and that they would have many economic opportunities.”

But when the company’s evolution showed that “we had sold a lie, how can we keep a clear conscience if we don’t rebel against the way we treat people today?”, he asks.

Uber, elevated to the symbol of the “gig economy” (the economy of on-demand jobs for consumer services through platforms) has been mired in controversy since last Sunday for shady practices in the past.

A vast journalistic investigation revealed the methods used by the company to “circumvent the law” and impose itself in the market despite the reticence of lawmakers and taxi companies.

The Guardian newspaper shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) 124,000 documents dating from 2013 to 2017, including conversations between Uber directors, presentations, notes and invoices.

Since its creation in 2010, Uber’s evolution has been peppered with scandals of harassment, industrial espionage and arm wrestling with justice. This Sunday, several media outlets (such as “Washington Post”, “Le Monde” and the BBC) published the first articles in the so-called “Uber Files”, which show how the company managed to expand quickly despite the strains of its business model. .

The company claims to have changed these dubious methods after the 2017 dismissal of its former manager, Travis Kalanick. Kalanick’s spokeswoman on Sunday rejected all the allegations made in the press.

Undemocratic

Mark MacGann said the ease with which Uber has managed to get closer to the centers of power in France, the UK and Russia is “passionate”, but also “deeply unfair” and “undemocratic”.

“We understand that Mark has things to regret about his years of loyalty to the former management team,” the company said in an email sent to AFP, in which it said MacGann was “not in a position to speak credibly” about what the company is now.

A spokesperson for the platform said that MacGann, after calling Uber “a company of its generation”, had problems with it “to receive a bonus that he considers he was due” and for which he received US$ 588,000 (R$ 588,000). 3.14 million). “Mark felt compelled to sound the alarm after cashing the check,” the company added.

MacGann admits personal problems with his former employer and, in addition to the bonus, accuses Uber of having adopted confrontational strategies with the taxi sector in Kalanick’s time, which exposed him personally, as in Spain for example.

The company provided him with a bodyguard because of the death threats he received, he told The Guardian. And the Uber experience had consequences for his mental health, which could have triggered post-traumatic stress syndrome.