The #DeleteUber campaign raging on social media over the weekend was enough to push Lyft up on the iTunes App store in between Instagram and YouTube while pushing Uber out of the top 10 list for the first time ever. After a Twitter gaffee which many took as Uber taking advantage of the taxi strike at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport. The Taxi Workers Alliance called for a stop on service at the airport on Saturday, January 28 from 6PM to 7PM in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban certain Muslim majority countries from entering the US for 90 days and barred Syrian refugees indefinitely which the group saw as “inhumane and unconstitutional”. Uber tweeted out that they are turning off Surge pricing at the JFK area, which offended many locals who saw them as undercutting the competition. They were more than eager to share some of their disdain and anger to the ride sharing company and soon enough, the #DeleteUber campaign started trending on Twitter, with many across the US also following suit in an act of solidarity.
Uber was quick to apologize but it came too late and the damage was done. It probably did not help that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick serves as an economic adviser to President Trump. The campaign caught fire after celebrities joined in on the #DeleteUber bandwagon including actors Mark Ruffalo and Taraji P. Henson as well as NBA player Carmelo Anthony (who, himself is a Lyft investor). Lyft further drove the nail down by donating $1 million USD to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who are working to get those detained or in holding due to the ban. This is a good move on their part which is enough to serve as a distraction from the fact that Trump confidants Carl Icahn and Peter Thiel are actually big investors in Lyft themselves.
