Uber employees ‘used tool to spy on exes, politicians and celebrities, including Beyoncé’

Uber employees have been accused of using a company tool to spy on celebrities and politicians.

A former forensic investigator for the cab-hailing company said staff exploited its “God view” tool to monitor high-profile clients without their knowledge.

Ward Spangenberg made the accusations in a court declaration. He is suing Uber for age discrimination and whistleblower retaliation after he was sacked from the company earlier this year.

As well as those in the public eye, he said Uber employees spied on people they knew, such as former partners.

He also alleged that the Uber account of singer Beyoncé was monitored.

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Spangenberg’s accusations were made in court documents in October. He said he told Uber executives about his security concerns but was fired less than a year later.

He also claimed the company stored driver and employee details in an insecure way.

His accusations were reported by the Centre for Investigative Reporting’s Reveal project.

The existence of the “God view” tool was revealed two years ago by BuzzFeed after a reporter’s journey was tracked.

Spangenberg said Uber had since renamed it as “Heaven view”.

Uber said that “fewer than ten” employees had been dismissed for abusing the tool, but that staff needed access to it to refund customers and investigate accidents.

The allegations come a week after Uber updated its app to continue monitoring customers’ movements for five minutes after they are dropped off.

In a statement, Uber said: “We have hundreds of security and privacy experts working around the clock to protect our data.

“This includes enforcing to authorised employees solely for purposes of their job responsibilities, and all potential violations are quickly and thoroughly investigated.”