Well, users certainly seem to have taken to the #deleteuber campaign to express their displeasure whenever anything goes wrong at the cab-hailing company. The campaign, which first surfaced a few weeks ago as a way for users to protest against Uber’s apparently taking advantage of a taxi strike that was called against Trump’s immigration ban, has resurfaced following allegations of sexual harassment at the cab-hailing firm.
The last time this campaign took place, it saw an estimated 200,000 customers remove the application from their smartphones. While the company does have a strong, 40 million user base, the campaign did serve to show the power of social media in producing real, tangible results against corporations.
Following the #deleteuber campaign on various social media platform, the platform’s app dropped down to #19 app overall on the App Store by January 31st, 2017. It has since then been making its way back up the charts and had managed to reach the 7th position at its best. Meanwhile, users are now bringing the campaign back to protest against the allegations of sexual harassment at the cab-hailing platform. From reports, it appears as if the #deleteuber hash-tag has seen over 5 million fresh impressions since last month.
However, things are different. First off, users do not appear to be feeling quite that passionately this time around. Don’t take me wrong, sexual harassment at workplaces is henious and is something that should be dealt with severely. However, Uber’s top brass has already acted quickly and set investigative machineries in motion.
There was also an all hands meeting yesterday regarding the actions that need to be taken against the complaint. Plus, most of the users that wanted to delete the app have already done so the first time around. So its unlikely that the company will be affected quite so severely this time around. Also, many users are not actually removing their apps, merely using the hash-tag to show that they are against workplace harassment.
However, the campaign would certainly catch Uber’s notice and may even induce the company to work faster and come up with some concrete results to show. If nothing else, the campaign could cause a mess of bad publicity for Uber that would have consequences in the long term — including but not limited to, harder hirings.
Well, let’s hope the company manages to clean up the mess quickly and that the people responsible for using their positions to harass others, are brought to justice as soon as possible.
