A leak of reports dubbed ‘The Uber Files’ shows the many ways that the ridesharing company has sought to fight regulation. 

The Uber Files were released over the weekend, bringing together over 124,000 leaked documents.

Among the revelations, the documents show that Uber has been channelling money through Bermuda and other tax havens. 

Experts at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists went through reams of internal Uber texts, emails, invoices and other documents to deliver what it calls “an unprecedented look into the ways Uber defied taxi laws and up-ended workers' rights”.

Since it was launched in 2009, Uber has sought to avoid taxi regulations and offer inexpensive transportation via a ride-sharing app.

The company has gone to extraordinary lengths to establish itself in nearly 30 countries, using expensive lobbyists to push government officials to drop investigations, rewrite labour and taxi laws, and reduce background checks on drivers, the papers show.

Uber has even turned to “stealth technology”' to fend off government investigations, including a “kill switch”' that cut access to Uber servers and blocked authorities from taking evidence during raids in multiple countries.

For example, The Uber Files show that during a police raid in Amsterdam, former Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick personally issued an order: “Please hit the kill switch ASAP … Access must be shut down in AMS (Amsterdam)”. 

Mr Kalanick has also been shown to have considered using the threat of violence against Uber drivers in France by aggrieved taxi drivers as a way to gain public support.

“Violence guarantee[s] success,” Mr Kalanick texted colleagues.

The leaked files also suggest the company cut its tax bill by millions of dollars by sending profits through Bermuda and other tax havens. 

The reports say Uber “sought to deflect attention from its tax liabilities by helping authorities collect taxes from its drivers”. 

Uber spokesperson Jill Hazelbaker has issued a statement saying the company acknowledges “mistakes'” from the past, but claims current chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi has been “tasked with transforming every aspect of how Uber operates”.

“When we say Uber is a different company today, we mean it literally: 90 per cent of current Uber employees joined after Dara became [chief executive]” she said.