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Between 2017 and 2019, Lyft received more than 4,000 reports of sexual assault, according to the ride-sharing app’s first-ever “safety report.”
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The report, released Thursday, breaks down sexual assault into five categories, including non-consensual sexual penetration, attempted sexual penetration, and non-consensual touching and kissing of body parts. Between 2017 and 2019, Lyft consistently received the most reports of “non-consensual touching of a sexual body part.” In 2019, more than 1,000 such reports came in—up from 598 reports in 2017. The growth may indicate that sexual violence is becoming more pervasive on the app.
The Lyft report arrives almost two years after Uber confirmed that it also had a sexual violence problem: In late 2019, Uber revealed that it had collected more than 3,000 reports of sexual assault in 2018. That number included 235 rapes. At the time, a spokesperson for Lyft told the Associated Press that it would soon release a similar report.
Lyft stressed its efforts to curb sexual violence and keep riders safe, including requiring background checks. “Behind every number, there is a person who experienced that incident,” Lyft wrote in the report. “Put simply, even one of these incidents is too many. That is what drives our relentless work to continuously improve safety for riders and drivers.”
But Lyft has repeatedly come under fire for accusations that it has failed to help and protect those who report experiencing harassment, physical violence, and sexual assault through the app.
Activist Alison Turkos, who sued Lyft in 2019 after she was allegedly raped by her Lyft driver and other men, tweeted that it’s more accurate to label Lyft’s report a “harm report” rather than a “safety report.” Turkos has said that, despite her attempts to report the driver to Lyft, he remained on the app under a new name and profile.
She also had to pay $12.81 for the ride.
“Do not applaud Lyft for this, it’s survivors like myself who made this happen and held them accountable,” Turkos tweeted Friday. “I share my story because I know I am not alone, I know rideshare sexual assault is a systemic problem and one Lyft actively chooses to ignore. It is exhausting holding a billion-dollar tech company accountable but I will never back down. We deserve better.”
Sexual assault is still relatively rare for riders. For example, Lyft stated in the report, the company had 156 reports of “non-consensual sexual penetration” in 2019. This, they said, accounted for only 0.00002 percent of completed rides.
