Uber now prohibits broadcasts of riders

ST. LOUIS — The ride-hailing company Uber instituted a new guideline prohibiting drivers from broadcasting passengers’ images amid privacy concerns after a St. Louis-area driver posted hundreds of videos.

The new guideline was put in place at the end of September, an Uber spokesman said Thursday. It allows drivers to use video cameras, dash cameras and other recording devices for security purposes — but not to broadcast them.

“Broadcasting a person’s image, audio, or video recording is a violation of these terms and may result in loss of account access,” the guideline states.

In July, both Uber and its rival, Lyft, cut ties with driver Jason Gargac, who recorded about 700 St. Louis-area passengers without their permission. Most were streamed to his channel on the live video website Twitch. Passengers who were unwittingly recorded and broadcast included children, intoxicated college students and public figures, including Alice in Chains lead guitarist Jerry Cantrell, the St. Louis PostDispatch reported.

The newspaper said the posted videos sometimes included names and showed passengers throwing up, kissing, and trash-talking relatives, friends and employers. Gargac said at the time that he was trying to capture what a Lyft and Uber ride is really like.