Publishers Handing Out Lobbying Support Get Slapped

Michael Hedges July 12, 2022 Follow on Twitter

When it first hit the headlines the Uber Files data dump seemed rather bland compared to the Pegasus blockbusters. The ride sharing company - now including food deliveries - and its efforts to lobby its way to fame and fortune looked rather innocuous in the great scheme of things. Dog bites man, right?

Ah, the passage of time reveals everything. And the great slew of investigative reporters digging through all those documents and emails have honed the processing of data dumps. Just to briefly step back, over a hundred thousand documents leaked to the UK Guardian by former Uber European lobbyist Mark MacGann, published over the weekend, gave up Uber’s expansion efforts, including lobbying, between 2012 and 2017. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) was invited to manage the efforts of 180 reporters from news outlets around the world. ICIJ has done this before, and very well.

In Germany, reporters from public broadcasters WDR and NDR were joined by the investigative team of news outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung. Interesting names popped up in communication with Uber executives, including co-founder and now former chief executive Travis Kalanick. During the documented years Uber managers turned attention to lobbying government officials to resist or overturn labor laws. Their plan included enlisting support from willing media outlets.

They found a friend in German publisher Axel Springer, whose chief executive Mathias Döpfner expended considerable energies in and around Silicon Valley and its leading lights. Herr Döpfner and Mr. Kalanick shared affinity for libertarianism (no rules), a guiding belief in Silicon Valley. Bild newspaper chief editor Kai Diekmann was reassigned to duties in the big tech capital. Axel Springer invested in Uber in 2016, a “cash plus media for equity” deal, reported the Guardian (July 11).

“We need someone like Kai Diekmann to open doors for us,” said one newly leaked email. “Kai Diekmann is the best way to get to (then German Chancellor Angela) Merkel,” said another. The Uber lobbying initiative in Germany, and elsewhere, was aimed at changing “passenger transport laws” that effectively banned its ride-sharing business. The Axel Springer investment in Uber, about €5 million, sealed the deal. "For us, the value is the support and influence of the publisher (Axel Springer) in Berlin and Brussels,” said another leaked internal memo.

For its part Axel Springer executives made no secret of providing “lobbying support,” particularly to tech start-ups. Such “native content” is common among publishers. “I think having (Axel) Springer on our side is very valuable if we want to move forward in Germany,” said yet another leaked memo. “Anything we can do to work with you would be great. I think they will be very proactive in tackling things to help.” In addition to Bild, Axel Springer published Die Welt as well as the Politico US and European news portals, which target, respectively, lobbyists in Washington DC and Brussels. Herr Diekmann departed Axel Springer in April 2017 to join Uber’s “policy advisory board.”

The Guardian/ICIJ document dump appears to reveal Uber’s successes in lobbying top level European politicians. There was a “secret deal” between Uber and then French economy minister - now president of France - Emmanuel Macron, reported Le Monde (July 11), an investigation partner. After one meeting with M. Macron, the aforementioned Mr. MacGann wrote: “Spectacular. Never seen before. We will soon dance.” The meeting, one of several, was “undeclared.”

The lobbying vehicles, so to speak, Uber used were big name supremely connected media proprietors. French billionaire Bernard Arnaud, owner of luxury good retailer LVHM as well as financial newspaper Les Echos, was “courted.” He invested €5 million. Headlined “An almighty Überstench” delightfully irreverent Australian news portal Crikey (July 12) added its two bits. “The revelations from the Uber Files -- leaks showing the systematic and relentless way Uber changed the world for the worse by courting world leaders, actively breaking the law, and destroying employment conditions -- continue.”

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• Hot Topics - Investigative Reporting

• Hot Topics - Axel Springer