Uber's slow response to law enforcement requests and a complex request process are leaving drivers vulnerable to repeated attacks by riders using fake accounts
An investigation by The Markup found that Uber is slow to respond to law enforcement requests, leaving drivers vulnerable to repeated attacks Tweets: @andyjayhawk , @sisiwei , @jonkeegan , @themarkup , @aaschapiro , @gigunionsocal , @themarkup , @darakerr , and @stephenjadler Tweets: Andrew J. Hawkins / @andyjayhawk : In collaboration with @themarkup we just published an in-depth investigation into Uber's delays in responding to law enforcement requests after drivers are attacked by passengers. https://www.theverge.com/... Sisi Wei / @sisiwei : This latest piece by @darakerr is absolutely incredible. Not only is Uber slow to respond to law enforcement requests (literally “give out as little information as possible"), they've essentially created their “own justice system.” https://twitter.com/... Jon Keegan / @jonkeegan : Really important reporting by @darakerr who has stayed focused on this story. Outrageous how slow Uber has been to assist law enforcement when it's drivers are carjacked or killed. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... @themarkup : “Had they caught these people before, this guy wouldn't be a murderer and Elijah Newman would be alive.” Just weeks after riders carjacked Uber driver Brian Blagoue, a Lyft driver was killed in the exact same spot. This might have been prevented. https://themarkup.org/... Avi Asher-Schapiro / @aaschapiro : What happens when the police need Uber's help to investigate an attack on an Uber driver? Uber takes its sweet time - there are massive backlogs of request, & it's leaving drivers vulnerable to repeated attacks. A chilling investigation by @darakerr https://themarkup.org/... @gigunionsocal : This is outrageous. @uber, @lyft, and other gig companies must come to the table with workers to develop solutions that keep us safe! https://twitter.com/... @themarkup : To uphold user privacy, expert @rcalo explained that Uber *should* push back on broad requests for data. But that when it comes to information on individuals in criminal investigations, delays can put drivers in harm's way. Read the full story w/ @verge: https://themarkup.org/... Dara Kerr / @darakerr : I met Brian, an Uber driver in St. Louis, last year. He saw my story about Lyft driver Elijah Newman, who was killed in an attempted carjacking. He believed he was carjacked by the same people 3 weeks earlier. I starting looking into it. Here's the result: https://themarkup.org/... Stephen J. Adler / @stephenjadler : Per @themarkup: Uber gets thousands of data requests from police when drivers are attacked or robbed. Uber complies only about half the time. Getting responses can be slow and thus, officials said, they often won't even submit such requests to Uber. https://themarkup.org/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Uber's safety machinery has been under scrutiny since 2019, when reporting on its 80-strong Special Investigations Unit showed the team handling severe incidents often put Uber's interests ahead of riders', and the company's own safety report disclosed that only 37% of rape cases from 2017–2018 US rides were reported to law enforcement.
The Markup's new investigation extends that arc from incident handling to data disclosure: Uber complies with roughly half of police requests tied to driver attacks, and its complex request process creates backlogs — meaning attackers using fake accounts can strike repeatedly before police ever learn who they are.
First-order effects
- Drivers attacked by riders on fake accounts are left exposed right now: with Uber complying with only about half of police data requests and responding slowly, attackers keep active accounts long enough to reoffend before identification.
- Police departments investigating these assaults hit a procedural wall built by Uber, stretching case timelines and pushing more victims toward civil action or media exposure rather than prosecution.
Second-order effects
- Regulators and city officials already skeptical of Uber's self-policing — a skepticism reinforced by the Bloomberg investigation into hourly driver lockouts in NYC — gain concrete evidence that platform-controlled incident data fails both drivers and law enforcement, strengthening the case for mandated disclosure timelines.
- Driver advocacy groups like the gig unions cited in the coverage can convert individual attack stories into organizing pressure, forcing Uber to choose between faster cooperation with police and its friction-heavy default posture.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, gig platforms' grip on incident data becomes a structural liability: expect legislatures to treat safety-data access as a regulated obligation rather than a courtesy, ending the era where companies like Uber both hold the evidence and set the terms of sharing it.
- The through-line from the Special Investigations Unit's conflicts to today's request backlogs suggests platform accountability will shift from self-reported safety metrics to externally audited disclosure — a standard that would apply to Lyft and every rideshare operator, not just Uber.
The trend: Platform accountability is moving from self-reported safety reports toward legally compelled, time-bound disclosure of incident data to law enforcement.