Uber Exec in Hot Water After Suggesting Smear Campaign on Journalists
Uber’s reputation as a stalwart of the digital economy is quickly becoming matched by its reputation for brazenness in addressing its critics.
The latest example comes from Emil Michael, a senior executive at the ride-sharing company. Michael thought it wise to tell a group that included BuzzFeed top editor Ben Smith his idea to invest $1 million in hiring opposition researchers to smear reporters critical of the company.
According to Smith’s report, he specifically named Sarah Lacy, the founding editor of PandoDaily, a tech website that has been critical of multiple Uber practices. Lacy recently wrote about her decision to delete Uber from her phone due to her perception of misogyny run wild at the company. That prompted Michael to suggest that digging up and publicizing dirt on her personal life would be one way to fight back, though under his plan Uber would do so anonymously. “Nobody would know it was us,’’ bragged Michael, speaking too soon.
(Update: In a series of tweets, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick addressed Michael’s comments, calling them “terrible’’ and saying they “showed a lack of leadership, a lack of humanity, and a departure from our values and ideals.’’ Kalanick did not indicate any disciplinary action taken against Michael, saying he thinks Michael “can learn from (mistakes).’’ The tweets are published in full at the end of this article.)
Michael released a half-hearted apology through a spokesperson to BuzzFeed. “The remarks attributed to me at a private dinner — borne out of frustration during an informal debate over what I feel is sensationalistic media coverage of the company I am proud to work for — do not reflect my actual views and have no relation to the company’s views or approach,’’ the statement read, according to BuzzFeed. He gave a more direct apology to Lacy on Twitter early this morning.
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But Michael is an executive near the top of a company whose ethics are already under question in a number of areas. His comments will fit neatly into any compilation of questionable Uber tales.
The plan to anonymously trash critical journalists, which as far as anybody knows Uber never actually put into use, is the inverse of another media tactic that the company did employ recently—to covertly try to place positive press in response to a critical article. After a first-person account of the hardships of working as an Uber driver article appeared in LA Weekly, a public relations firm then tried to give another driver’s more positive account to the publication as an exclusive. The PR agency did not admit it had been hired by Uber until it was pressed to do so.
Kalanick, the company’s founder and CEO (who appears close enough to Michael—separated by two bodies, to be precise, in this picture on Twitter), has said since earlier this year that Uber is in a “political campaign’’ against its competitors. That group includes not just the taxi industry it has impacted or similar services like Lyft, but also, apparently, its critics. Even taking that approach public may not have been all that sage. How easy it is to remember, after all, that political campaigns tend to get ugly, and that politicians are not always honest.
Kalanick’s address of Michael’s comments is embedded below.
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