Ashton Kutcher, Uber investor, wanders into the dumbest fight of his life

By Jacob Kastrenakes on November 19, 2014 01:02 pm @jake_k

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Uber investor Ashton Kutcher is defending Uber from comments that one of its exe
cutives made on Friday, in which the exec casually threatened to launch a smear
campaign against a specific journalist who had written negatively about the comp
any. In a series of tweets, Kutcher questioned whether Uber business exec Emil M
ichael's suggestion that the company hire researchers to dig up dirt on journali
sts was really a bad idea. "What is so wrong about digging up dirt on shady jour
nalist?" Kutcher tweeted, without noting what was "shady" about the journalist i
n question.
"QUESTIONING THE SOURCE NEEDS TO HAPPEN... ALWAYS!"
Kutcher's argument was that everyone is now a public figure thanks to the intern
et. In particular, he writes that journalists are culpable because some print "h
alf truths as facts" and then leave their subjects to defend themselves as a sto
ry spans the globe. "Questioning the source needs to happen... Always!" he write
s. Kutcher also noted that he is speaking for himself and not on behalf of Uber.
While Kutcher's point about questioning sources is a fine one, he seems to ignor
e the fact that Uber's executive is reported to have made a specific threat agai
nst one journalist, PandoDaily editor-in-chief Sarah Lacy. And that threat was n
ot made because she was acting "shady," as he writes, but for writing negatively
about what she calls Uber's "asshole culture." Kutcher eventually concedes that
he's somewhat off the mark, though it's not totally clear where the change of h
eart comes from. "U r all right and I'm on the wrong side of this ultimately," K
utcher writes. "I just wish journalists were held to the same standards as publi
c figures."
As PandoDaily editor Paul Carr points out, Kutcher's tweets still serve to suppo
rt Uber even in the face of his changing course. "Of course [Kutcher] backed dow
n, but he did his celeb investor job for Uber
planted the idea that Sarah is 'sh
ady' without facts," he writes on Twitter. It's also a case of Uber wildly missi
ng the point. Lacy, or any other journalist, isn't what Uber should be fighting
back against its target should be the internal culture that has led to all of th
e bad decisions that keep bringing it negative press.
Uber has tried to distance itself from Michael's comments, but there still remai
ns the broader issue around how it might be able to get dirt on journalists. Tho
ugh Michael had reportedly suggested hiring a team of Uber's own researchers,Buz
zFeed has continued to point out that Uber has access to everyone's travel logs,
which many people at the company are said to have access to. That's potentially
a major issue, as travel logs can be incredibly revealing in a number of ways.
Uber has said that it can only access this data for "legitimate business purpose
s," but multiple claims suggest that it's tapped into this for less than legitim
ate reasons.
Disclosure: Ashton Kutcher is an advisor to Vox Media, The Verge's parent compan
y.