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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices