Following the liberal backlash of #DeleteUber after left-wing protesters claim that 'scab' Uber drivers broke the anti-Trump-immigration-policy strike at JFK last weekend, it appears Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has fallen on his social justice sword as Recode reports he is leaving President trump's advisory council.
As Recode's Kara Swisher reports, the Uber CEO had faced criticism from Silicon Valley insiders for working with the Trump administration, as well as for what some saw as a tepid response to the White House’s recent travel ban.
BREAKING: I am hearing that @Uber ceo @travisk has told employees in a memo that he has quit Trump's business advisory council. More TK.
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) February 2, 2017
As a reminder, we detailed the #DeleteUber debacle earlier in the week...
#DeleteUber is a social media protest against Uber. The protest surged following a New York City taxi impromptu strike at JFK airport following the Trump order banning air travel from seven nations.
Let’s dissect the stupidity and hypocrisy of the #DeleteUber movement because there is plenty of it going around.
MarketWatch explains: Consumers lash out at Uber and turn to Lyft after Uber’s immigration response.
Uber Technologies Inc. was in critics’ crosshairs while Lyft Inc. was winning support after the companies’ very different responses to President Donald Trump’s immigration order.
The backlash came as New York taxi drivers went on strike Saturday and joined a protest at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport against Trump’s order blocking entry to the U.S. by immigrants from select largely Muslim countries, while a tweet from Uber indicated the company had suspended surge pricing, causing some to view the company as seeking to undermine the strike.
Lyft largely stayed out of Saturday’s confrontation but sent an email to users Sunday saying that the company would be donating $1 million over the next four years to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, with a membership of 19,000 people, had called on all drivers, including those with Uber and Lyft, not to pick up passengers from JFK and to instead join the protest. The group said its membership is largely Muslim and made up of immigrants, and that it was “in defense of the oppressed,” as well as its own drivers, that it was speaking out against the ban.
Read more here...