New Jersey’s attorney general is investigating the frequency of sexual violence during Uber rides and whether the company has misrepresented the safety of its ride-hailing service to passengers and drivers, according to two people with knowledge of the inquiry.
The investigation, by the office of Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, is at the beginning stages, according to the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the inquiry. The attorney general’s office issued a subpoena to Uber in September seeking internal data about sexual assaults and sexual misconduct, including information about training policies and the actions the company did and did not take to address incidents.
The inquiry is focused on whether Uber committed consumer fraud, looking at whether the ways the company promoted safety and consumer safeguards diverged from what its users actually experienced, the people said. The attorney general is also seeking information on Uber’s business practices, including why the company did or did not introduce certain safety features.
The investigation was prompted by a New York Times report in August that found sexual violence on Uber rides was far more pervasive than what the company had previously disclosed, the people said. Uber received a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States almost every eight minutes on average between 2017 and 2022, according to court documents.
The Times found that teams of data scientists and safety experts inside Uber had spent years studying the problem and testing tools that proved effective at making trips safer, including sophisticated matching algorithms, mandatory video recording and pairing female passengers with female drivers. But the company delayed or did not require some of the most promising programs, nor did it warn passengers about factors it linked to attacks, The Times found.
A spokesman for Uber said the company was responding to the New Jersey attorney general’s inquiry, and that it looked forward “to sharing more about our ongoing safety efforts.”
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The post N.J. Attorney General Investigating Uber Over Handling of Sexual Assaults appeared first on New York Times.
