Uber is not having the best start to 2017.
In January, a #DeleteUber boycott erupted on Twitter after some users accused the tech company of trying to profit from a taxi driver protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration ban. Although Uber CEO Travis Kalanick later announced he would create a $3 million legal defense fund for drivers affected by the ban, more than 200,000 customers still deleted their Uber accounts.
Now the #DeleteUber hashtag is back for round two. This time the outrage was sparked by a blog post in which a former employee detailed the sexual harassment she allegedly experienced at the company. Susan J. Fowler, an ex-Uber engineer, says she was propositioned by her manager and that human resources refused to act on her complaint, saying that it was a “first offense” and that they didn’t want to damage the career of a “high performer.”
The post went viral, prompting outrage from celebrities and business people alike.
Gross. Gross gross gross. #deleteuber https://t.co/4b1AFwj9x0
— Felicia Day🇺🇸 (@feliciaday) February 19, 2017
Gross. Gross gross gross. #deleteuber https://t.co/4b1AFwj9x0
— Felicia Day🇺🇸 (@feliciaday) February 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/Jason/status/833470790368587776
Kalanick reacted with a series tweets calling the actions described in Fowler’s blog post, “abhorrent and against everything we believe in” and announcing that her claims would be immediately investigated.
2/ I've instructed our CHRO Liane to conduct an urgent investigation. There can be absolutely no place for this kind of behavior at Uber.
— travis kalanick (@travisk) February 20, 2017
2/ I've instructed our CHRO Liane to conduct an urgent investigation. There can be absolutely no place for this kind of behavior at Uber.
— travis kalanick (@travisk) February 20, 2017
Kalanick has since hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct a review of the sexual harassment claims, but that hasn’t stopped the stream of #DeleteUber tweets. According to Keyhole, more than 3,500 users have fired off tweets using the hashtag since Sunday evening.