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A businessman in France is suing Uber for €45 million—roughly $48 million at current exchange rates—over claims that the ride-hailing company facilitated the end of his marriage by allowing his wife to see his comings and goings due to a bug in the app.
According to French newspaper Le Figaro, the man, who hails from the French Riviera, briefly borrowed his wife’s phone at one point to log into his own personal Uber account and book a ride. Even after he logged out of his account on her phone, however, the man claims the app continued to send notifications detailing where he was being picked up and dropped off to her device.
Newspaper claims it observed the same Uber app bug reported in the lawsuit
Le Figaro says that it was able to replicate the alleged bug, stating that it appears to apply strictly iPhones running software older than iOS 10.2, which was released in mid-December. The newspaper claims the glitch enables Uber users to see pop-up notifications documenting the deleted account’s activity, though it does not allow them access to the broader account in general.
An Uber spokesperson refused to comment to Le Figaro on the issue. “Uber does not publicly comment on individual cases, including the case of divorce proceedings between spouses,” the spokesperson said, according to Google Translate.
A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for March.
The French in general have had something of a contentious relationship with Uber since the ride-hailing company entered the Gallic market. The company came under fire in 2014, when a French court declared the UberPop service illegal—a ruling that would lead the company to be fined nearly a million dollars in 2016. And Parisian taxi drivers have been quite vocal in their protests against Uber, going so far as to shut down major roadways and start fires in protest.
