While many people were protesting President Trump’s immigration order over the weekend, ride-hailing companies such as Uber continued to operate and even cut surge pricing at a time when the NY Taxi Workers Alliance held a strike.
Uber’s decision drew the anger of many of its users who felt the ride-hailing giant shouldn’t have tried to profit from the situation at a time of international outrage.
Even celebrities such as George Takei and Lena Dunham took offense with Uber’s strategy, spreading the social media hashtag #DeleteUber. As of Monday morning, Uber stood as the 13th most downloaded app on the Apple App Store, whereas Lyft was the sixth-most downloaded.
Speaking of Lyft, the company stated it would donate $1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union – which sued Trump over the order, prompting a federal judge to take action against it.
In a response to their users, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said that his company would set up a $3 million fund to support immigrant drivers in need of legal services, while compensating detained drivers for lost earnings and lobbying the Trump administration to overturn the order, as reported by Autonews.
Kalanick added that he would use his position on Trump’s economic advisory group, which includes Tesla CEO Elon Musk and GM CEO Mary Barra, to try to work things out during their next meeting with the president on Friday.
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