Uber boss leaves Trump advisory role after boycott

Uber's chief executive Travis Kalanick has announced he will be withdrawing from the US President 's economic advisory council following a massive online backlash against the company.

Kalanick revealed his decision in a memo to Uber staff, but defended himself by saying that his role on Donald Trump's team had been "misinterpreted".

"Joining the [advisory] group was not meant to be an endorsement of the President or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that," Kalanick said.

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Pressure to step down from Trump's team had been growing in the wake of the president's introduction of strict immigration and refugee bans in the US, which could affect many of Uber's drivers.

The New York Times reports that at least two Uber employees asked Kalanick, "what would it take for you to quit the economic council?", during a regularly scheduled "all-hands" meeting at the company's headquarters on Tuesday.

Kalanick has since announced a $3 million (£2.4m) "legal defence fund" to assist any of the company's drivers affected by the bans.

The company is also battling an online campaign after it "appeared to defy a taxi strike by removing surge pricing – the mechanism by which prices go up on the service when demand is high" during anti-Trump protests at several major airports in the US, the BBC says.

"Uber has not revealed how many users deleted their accounts, but it was enough that the company implemented an automated process to handle the demand," The Guardian reports.