Taken for a Ride: The Uber Files Explained

Uber has transformed how we travel around cities – what do newly leaked documents tell us about its meteoric rise? The explosive ‘Uber Files’ give an insight into the tactics the taxi giant used to become a household name. Justin Quirk unpacks what these reveal with lecturer Dr. Jimena Valdez, who is working on the project Über-State: The Political Economy of Platform Capitalism. 

• “The three most striking things are: the utter disregard for the law, the connections to political power, and the very little value they attach to drivers - that they call them ‘supply’.”
• "Suddenly, we feel like we can't live without our Ubers." 
• "Uber has become this tag for everything that is wrong, but it's tech companies more widely." 
• "Politicians and consumers thought that Uber was so cool, that it should be treated differently." 
• “This is part of the servant economy.” 

https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast

Presented by Justin Quirk. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Jacob Archbold, Jelena Sofronijevic, Alex Rees. Assistant Producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Audio production by Jade Bailey. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production.

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