Uber CEO steps down from Trumps advisory board
After an undoubtedly difficult week for the Uber CEO, the company confirmed that Travis Kalanick is stepping down from Donald Trump’s economic advisory council. Kalanick faced intense criticism and a boycott (which was trending on Twitter and Facebook for days) of the company over its ties to the Trump administration.
This criticism followed in the wake of Trump’s executive order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries. It also didn’t help matters that Uber did not participate in a work stoppage called by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.
“Earlier today I spoke briefly with the president about the immigration executive order and its issues for our community,” Kalanick wrote in an email to Uber staff. “I also let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that.”
According to the Guardian, “Executives from companies including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Netflix spoke out against the travel ban. Many companies announced donations to civil liberties or refugee rights organizations, and some have announced intentions to support legal challenges to the order.”
Kalanick said in a tweet that he was going to use his position on Trump’s economic council to “stand up for what’s right.”
However, by Thursday, Kalanick apparently decided that it was not worth the trouble.
“There are many ways we will continue to advocate for just change on immigration but staying on the council was going to get in the way of that,” he wrote in the staff email.