Uber Files: Meet Mark MacGann, 52-year-old career lobbyist and source of leak

Career lobbyist Mark MacGann has come forward to identify himself as the source that leaked the Uber Files.

The ‘Uber Files’ comprises information from 124,000 documents between 2013 and 2017 that spotlights Uber’s questionable ethical and legal tactics during its global ascent.

MacGann in an interview with The Guardian, said he decided to speak out because he believes Uber ‘knowingly flouted’ laws in dozens of countries and misled people about the benefits to drivers of the company’s gig-economy model.

MacGann, 52, taking his share of responsibility for Uber’s conduct, said he was motivated at least in part by remorse.

“I am partly responsible,” he said. “I was the one talking to governments, I was the one pushing this with the media, I was the one telling people that they should change the rules because drivers were going to benefit and people were going to get so much economic opportunity.”

MacGann, referred to as “MMG” in leaked emails, said in an exclusive interview with The Guardian that he decided to leak the documents to expose the company’s wrongdoing.

In claiming to governments that changing rules in Uber’s favour would benefit drivers economically, “We had actually sold people a lie,” he told The Guardian.

Let’s take a closer look at MacGann’s life and career:

Life and early career

MacGann was born in Ireland’s Longford and raised in Roscommon.

As per Moneycontrol, MacGann received his BA (Hons) degree in Political Science, Economics and French from UK’s Kingston University.

He then did Master’s from France’s prestigious Sciences Po Grenoble.

As per Irish Times, MacGann began his career as an adviser to the president of the Rhone-Alpes region in southeast France where he was responsible for attracting European structuring funding and private investment to the region.

He then worked consultant for Paris advertising agency Euro RSCG focusing on communications and media aspects of privatisation in France.

In the late 1990s, he worked for French telecoms company Alcatel where he was director of European affairs during the deregulation of telecoms in Europe.

He worked for lobbying and public relations firms Brunswick, out of the firm’s offices in London, Paris and New York, and later for Weber Shandwick in the 2000s.

He was also director general of Digital Europe, a trade association that lobbied for companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Sony.

In 2010, he joined NYSE Euronext, the world’s largest stock exchange operator that runs the New York Stock Exchange, as its chief European lobbyist, leading its government affairs and public advocacy team out of Brussels. He spent four years with the company.

Stint at Uber

MacGann joined Uber in 2014 as the head of public policy for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

MacGann in his role oversaw government relations and public policy in more than 40 countries and was tasked with managing the company’s chaotic global expansion, which was rife with violations of local transportation laws.

As per The Guardian, MacGann was the “obvious pick” to lead Uber’s government relations due to his  impressive array contacts built up over two decades in the field of public policy.

According to his LinkedIn profile, MacGann became a senior board advisor at Uber in February 2016.

Leaving Uber and sharing information

As per The Verge, MacGann left Uber late in 2016 under what seemed to be good terms, although he recently reached a settlement with the company in a dispute relating to his pay.

MacGann said he was, as the face of Uber’s European rollout, attacked in Brussels by angry cab drivers and saw Uber’s confrontational approach as a cause.

“I started to feel it was indicative of Uber’s wider relationship with drivers, putting them in harm’s way for their own financial interests,” MacGann was quoted as saying.

MacGann, after extended treatment for PTSD that a medical report said was linked to the professional stress he experienced at Uber, shared information with a French lawyer who was suing the company on behalf of drivers.

In January, MacGann travelled to Geneva to meet with The Guardian, and eventually handed over 18.69GB of emails, texts, and company records.

Uber responds to revelation, MacGann hits back

Uber put out the following statement in response to MacGann revealing himself as the source of the Uber Files.

“We understand that Mark has personal regrets about his years of steadfast loyalty to our previous leadership, but he is in no position to speak credibly about Uber today,” Uber spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker  said.

“Mark had only praise for Uber when he left the company six years ago. In his 2016 departure email, he called Uber the “enterprise of this generation” and described himself as “a strong believer in Uber’s mission.” Since then, however, Mark has been in litigation against the company in an attempt, among other things, to get paid a bonus he claimed to be owed for his work at Uber. That lawsuit recently ended with him being paid 585,000 euros. It is noteworthy that Mark felt compelled to “blow the whistle” only after his check cleared.”

Hazelbaker said MacGann doesn’t “understand Uber’s current business model or our relationship with drivers in countries like Spain, Italy, and the UK.”

“There is real economic and social value to flexible and independent work arrangements,” she said. “Drivers agree, which is why tens of millions of people choose flexible work over other available work options.”

As per  International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), MacGann, responding to Uber’s claims, said the company has “unsurprisingly chosen to ‘play the man, not the ball.’”

“I first contacted Guardian journalists in December 2021, five months before Uber chose to settle my legal dispute,” MacGann said.

“I placed no restriction on when journalists could use the data I shared with them. It is not correct that I have been paid 550,000 euros – my lawyers are still fighting for me to receive the full payment.”

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.