Uber is seeking to contain the fallout from a series of leaked documents published by the Guardian newspaper which suggest a number of incidents of malpractice related to its global growth strategy.

The newspaper published a leak of more than 124,000 private documents which suggest the company contravened laws, exploited violence against drivers and secretly lobbied governments during its global expansion.

Spanning a five-year period between 2013 and 2017 when Uber was run by its co-founder Travis Kalanick, the leaks allege that in launching its service into cities around the world, Uber breached laws and taxi regulations.

And when facing backlash for its expansion tactics, the leaks show that Uber tried to shore up support by courting influential figures including prime ministers, presidents, billionaires, oligarchs, and media barons – with French president Emmanuel Macron among the figures named.

The cache of files included more than 83,000 emails, iMessages and WhatsApp messages, many of which included frank communications between Kalanick and his top team of executives.

During his stint as economic minister, it appears Macron sought to help Uber, with messages suggesting that he brokered a secret ‘deal’ with opponents in the French cabinet.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was then serving as mayor of Hamburg, pushed back against Uber lobbyists, the documents suggest, and insisted on paying drivers a minimum wage, while an executive told colleagues Scholtz was ‘a real comedian’.

In a statement responding to the leaks, Uber highlighted the fact that the company is now regulated in more than 10,000 cities around the world and said that it had invested heavily in safety and development of technologies that are now industry standard, in addition to publishing a comprehensive report of the most serious safety incidents.

The company said it is investing $800 million to help drivers switch to electric vehicles and was taking action on gender and racial pay equality alongside tying senior executives’ compensation to diversity goals.

Uber said: “We have not and will not make excuses for past behaviour that is clearly not in line with our present values. Instead, we ask the public to judge us by what we’ve done over the last five years and what we will do in the years to come.”

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