Uber blocks anonymous chat app called blind, developer says

Uber insiders have made an avalanche of revelations about the company's allegedly dysfunctional culture in recent weeks, culminating with former engineer Susan Fowler's shocking tell-all of alleged sexual harassment.

Uber has publicly acknowledged Fowler's statements and vowed to investigate, although Uber investors, Mitch and Freada Kapor, are not satisfied with that. They worry that the insiders chosen to look into the matter represent "yet another example of Uber's continued unwillingness to be open, transparent, and direct."

Naturally, Uber employees want to talk about it all. Many do on an anonymous chat app called Blind. Uber has more than 11,000 employees worldwide with about 5,000 in San Francisco, its headquarters. And over 2,000 Uber employees in total use Blind, says Blind's head of operations Alex Shin.

But it appears that Uber is trying to block employees from using the app.

"Out of over the 100 tech companies active on Blind, Uber has been the only company to make attempts at blocking employee access to Blind. The app doesn't launch on Uber WiFi," says Shin.

Shin says this information came from Uber employees telling him about their inability to access the app at work. Uber did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.

In any case, the defensive measure doesn't seem to have stopped Uber employees from chatting. "Our activity at Uber has gone up 3x since they blocked us on their WiFi," Shin says.