Travis Kalanick—Uber used secret Greyball tool to evade law enforcement and regulators
Under Kalanick's leadership, Uber developed and deployed 'Greyball,' a secret software tool that identified and evaded government regulators and law enforcement officials attempting to enforce transportation laws. The tool was used from at least 2014 to 2017 across multiple cities and countries. The DOJ investigated the program.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Governance | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Deceptive Lobbying | +toward | secondary | -0.50 |
| Regulatory Capture | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.590 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
Confirms product_decision Mar 3, 2017 verified
NYT investigation revealed Uber's secret Greyball program to evade authorities
The New York Times reported that Uber developed a tool called Greyball that used data collected from the Uber app to identify and evade enforcement officials in cities where its service violated regulations.