In safety report, Uber says only 37% of the 464 rape cases during its US rides in 2017 and 2018 were reported to law enforcement

Buried inside Uber's inaugural safety report this week that detailed thousands of sexual assaults and more than 100 deaths was another staggering revelation … Tweets: @rothwell_scott , @faizsays , and @faizsays Tweets: Scott Rothwell / @rothwell_scott : “Uber didn't disclose the involvement of law enforcement in the 6,000 reports of sexual assault. That means police are unaware of potentially thousands more cases of sexual assaults.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Faiz Siddiqui / @faizsays : NEW: On Uber, hundreds of rape cases go unreported to police. Police weren't aware of nearly 300 rape allegations, according to Uber's transparency report. Former SF attorney who sued Uber: “they're placing the public at large at risk.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Faiz Siddiqui / @faizsays : The findings suggest that knows vastly more than police about the scale of rape and sexual assault on the app, giving it a sort of quasi-safety authority power. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: “Our first order is not reporting to the police. Our first order is to help the survivor.” https://twitter.com/... Expand More For Next Unexpand More For Next

Washington Post 2019-12-07 Faiz Siddiqui

Context & Ripple Effects

Uber's disclosure is the culmination of an arc that began when a customer-service leak forced it to admit just five rape claims between December 2012 and August 2015 — a number so low it read as undercounting rather than transparency. Under CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, the company chose voluntary disclosure instead, publishing its inaugural safety report covering thousands of sexual assaults and more than 100 deaths across its 1.3B US rides.

The Washington Post's finding cuts into that transparency claim: only 37% of the 464 rape cases were reported to law enforcement, meaning Uber sits on crime data that police themselves lack. Khosrowshahi was pressed on exactly this gap in his follow-up interview about why two-thirds of rape cases haven't been reported to the police.

First-order effects

Police were unaware of nearly 300 of the 464 rape cases from Uber's US rides in 2017-2018, leaving victims without investigation and jurisdictions with systematically incomplete crime statistics.
Khosrowshahi now has to defend the reporting gap publicly, since Uber's own report — which disclosed 3,045 sexual assaults and nine murders in 2018 — exposed the number rather than suppressing it.

Second-order effects

Lyft, facing the same disclosure pressure, released its own first safety report two years later citing 4,000+ sexual assault reports including 360 rapes, confirming that Uber's move set the template competitors had to match.
The revelation reframes background-check scrutiny: reporting already showed Uber approved drivers in 22 states with older convictions because checks were designed for speed and low cost, and the unreported-cases gap compounds questions about who ends up driving.

Third-order effects

If platforms remain the primary holders of assault data from their own services, the pattern points toward mandated safety-reporting requirements rather than voluntary reports — regulators cannot rely on companies to route allegations to police.
Ride-hailing safety disclosure risks becoming an annual PR exercise unless third-party verification separates what platforms report internally from what reaches law enforcement, since Uber itself controlled both the count and the police-referral rate in its first report.

The trend: Ride-hailing platforms are becoming de facto custodians of crime data their own apps generate, with voluntary safety reports like Uber's establishing a disclosure norm that neither law enforcement nor competitors can ignore.

Discussion

@rothwell_scott Scott Rothwell on x
“Uber didn't disclose the involvement of law enforcement in the 6,000 reports of sexual assault. That means police are unaware of potentially thousands more cases of sexual assaults.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@faizsays Faiz Siddiqui on x
NEW: On Uber, hundreds of rape cases go unreported to police. Police weren't aware of nearly 300 rape allegations, according to Uber's transparency report. Former SF attorney who sued Uber: “they're placing the public at large at risk.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@faizsays Faiz Siddiqui on x
The findings suggest that knows vastly more than police about the scale of rape and sexual assault on the app, giving it a sort of quasi-safety authority power. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: “Our first order is not reporting to the police. Our first order is to help the survivor.” https…
Vox Anna North on x
It's not just passengers being assaulted in Ubers. Drivers are at risk, too.
@dkhos Dara Khosrowshahi on x
Doing the right thing means counting, confronting, and taking action to end sexual assault. My heart is with every survivor of this all-too-pervasive crime. Our work will never be done, but we take an important step forward today. http://uber.com/safety (1/3)
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
The reaction to the NY Times' (accurate) child safety series and Uber's safety numbers is helping separate those commentators who actually care about the abuse from those looking for lazy dunks. A demonstration of why so few companies voluntarily publish anything.
@nytmetro @nytmetro on x
The N.Y.P.D., which keeps a register of sex crimes and rapes that occur on transit systems, counted 533 in 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/...
@lisabloom Lisa Bloom on x
Having represented MANY ride share sexual assault victims, I believe these numbers are much higher. https://www.nbcnews.com/...
@mayawiley Maya Wiley on x
235 #rape allegations a year! And what about the unreported ones? And other ride shares?: “Uber unmasks its sexual assault problem, reveals thousands of abuse reports a year.” #Uber https://www.nbcnews.com/...
@senblumenthal Richard Blumenthal on x
The staggering number of sexual assaults in ridesharing demands urgent reforms, as I've demanded repeatedly. Lyft & other companies must follow suit with transparency reports of their own. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@khanoisseur @khanoisseur on x
1. The sexual assaults in “ridesharing” are a tiny fraction of sexual assaults that happen during commutes each day in the US. Hundreds of thousands of commuters are subjected to sexual and other forms of assault on buses and trains in US cities such as DC, LA, NY, Boston... http…
@manan @manan on x
this is the right frame and context for this data. The journalists have been hating on Uber as if Uber is responsible and Dara committed these crimes. https://twitter.com/...
@jstrauss J-Strizzle on x
The @TechmemeChatter tweets about this Uber report are like a Rorschach test of hot takes. https://twitter.com/...
@jboyolee Bo Young Lee on x
As a survivor of sexual assault, It is heartening to work for a company that is putting all it's resources behind building the safest platform possible. Transparency and accountability is hard but necessary to ensure we are doing the right thing. https://twitter.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
The Uber example is also indicative of a basic problem in measurement: only the companies that care to measure will know about their abuse. So we have (large) numbers from the largest players and know nothing about the long tail and little about pre-tech prevalence.
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
I think there is a basic disconnect between those people who see various kinds of horrible types of abuse as: a) Innate in humanity b) Only created by tech platforms c) Innate but amplified or enhanced by tech In most cases, c is the right mindset.
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
uber ceo letter to staff on the report https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@dealbook @dealbook on x
“There is no law, regulation or lawsuit that is forcing Uber to make this data available,” said Tony West, Uber's chief legal officer. “We are doing this, frankly, because the public has a right to know.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
@susanlitv Susan Li on x
Interesting that it's split almost 50/50 in assaults reported by passengers & drivers #Uber $uber the NYPD received 1,125 complaints of sex offenses in the transit system during the same time period #ridehailing $lyft https://twitter.com/...
@wagatwe Wagatwe Wanjuki on x
So I am glad that Uber is releasing these numbers, but I am also turned off by the way they're doing this. “most don't reveal this data!” “don't forget sexual assault is common everywhere!” It reads as a press release meant to garner applause. https://www.uber.com/...
@mcbyrne @mcbyrne on x
Weird. @uber didn't bother to disclose the 3000 assaults to passengers. Zero tolerance is kinda meaningless with the reality of a small town worth of sexual assaults. That is some transparency. @UltraViolet thoughts? https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@carmen50 BiCoastal Elitist on x
When I'm forced to use Uber or Lyft and I don't feel safe, I call a friend and talk the whole way. I shouldn't have to do this. https://twitter.com/...
@dmartosko David Martosko on x
Context: Uber does 1.15 billion rides per year. So ... roughly 3 incidents of sexual assault per *million* rides. Let's say 0.0003%. That's better odds than women get at universities. 20% report sexual assault in college (per DOJ), so *5%* of any large group per school year. http…
@rumpfshaker Sarah Rumpf on x
The only truly acceptable number is, of course, zero, but this is data from a period in which “an average of more than 3.1 million trips took place each day.” As a woman who has frequently traveled the US alone, I strongly prefer Uber/Lyft to taxis, mostly for safety/reliability.…
@tomsteyer Tom Steyer on x
This is appalling. We need to regulate tech giants like @Uber to ensure they put safety first—and we need to do more to address the horrific reality of rampant sexual assault happening every day across our country. https://twitter.com/...
@edbott Ed Bott on x
These are horrible numbers but also reflective of the imperfect and extremely violent world we live in. I'm encouraged that they reported this and we can have a conversation about what it means. https://twitter.com/...
@tonywest Tony West on x
Today @Uber does what no other tech company has done: voluntarily publish a Safety Report detailing our greatest challenges and how we're addressing them. Avoiding tough topics like sexual assault is common but we believe it's time for a new approach. http://www.uber.com/...
@calbucci Marcelo Calbucci on x
I'm surprised at the outrage at Uber. Do you know how many people are raped and murdered by taxi drivers around the world? What if Uber is 10X safer than getting into a taxi? https://twitter.com/...
@uber_support @uber_support on x
@MitchGayns Thanks for reaching out about the US Safety Report, @MitchGayns. Our Uber Support team isn't able to answer questions directly, but you can learn more here: https://www.uber.com/.... If you're interested in Uber's overall approach to safety, see more at https://www.ub…
@briannawu Brianna Wu on x
If you don't measure something you can't improve it. Glad to see @uber releasing the data publicly for sexual assaults. Most tech companies would bury difficult information, like they do with the number of women they hire for engineering roles. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@laurenpeikoff Lauren Peikoff on x
WOW: Uber received 5,981 reports of sexual abuse between 2017 and 2018. 235 reports of rape in 2018. https://www.nbcnews.com/...
@bethanyshondark Bethany S. Mandel on x
This makes other women apprehensive about taking Uber right https://twitter.com/...
@dhh @dhh on x
These numbers are just astounding... now combine this with the company's history of undermining and investigating rape victims. Maybe think twice about getting into an Uber by yourself? https://twitter.com/...
@johnpaczkowski John Paczkowski on x
Previously: Uber tries to convince us that thousands of customer service complaints with the word “rape” in them are inflated because of people with names like “don draper” https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@noahshachtman Noah Shachtman on x
How do you justify taking an @Uber after this? https://twitter.com/...
@davidsonjess22 Jess Davidson on x
These numbers from Uber are scary, but my take is that they're reflective of the reality of sexual violence, not of something unique to Uber. I'm grateful for @Uber's transparency on these #'s, and want other gig economy companies to release the same data http://www.uber.com/...
@brianmrosenthal Brian M. Rosenthal on x
New report: During all Uber rides in 2018, there were: —9 murders —58 people killed in crashes —3,045 sexual assaults (The company noted that 99.99 percent of rides were safe) https://www.nytimes.com/..., by @KatieConger
@amy_siskind @amy_siskind on x
OMG! Boycott this company: “In a lengthy report, which divides sexual misconduct into 21 categories, Uber said it recorded 235 rapes and thousands more cases of assault.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
Absolutely awful. Yes, the problem of predatory taxi drivers predates Uber. But the scale here is sickening https://twitter.com/...
@appyg99 Apoorva Govind on x
99.9% of Uber trips ended without any issue; only 0.1% ended with a safety-related report (mostly complaints about driving behaviors, like harsh braking); only 0.0003% of trips had a type of serious incident! Loving the transparency https://www.uber.com/...
@geoffreyfowler Geoffrey A. Fowler on x
How safe is Uber? - 235 people were raped in U.S. Ubers last year - Drivers report sexual assaults at about the same rate as passengers - 107 people died in U.S. Uber-related crashes in 2017-2018 - 0.0003% of trips report a critical safety incident https://wapo.st/38deGE8
@gregbensinger Greg Bensinger on x
Wow. 3,000 sex assault victims is A LOT and it's just U.S. and a lot of victims don't come forward. The worldwide figure has to be much much higher. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@s_m_i Stacy-Marie Ishmael on x
“Drivers, passengers and third parties were all murdered. In cases of rape, Uber said that 92 percent of the reported victims were riders. But drivers reported other types of sexual assaults at roughly the same rate as riders, Uber said.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
@annehelen Anne Helen Petersen on x
this makes me nauseous https://twitter.com/...

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