Uber conducted background checks using the methods used for black-cab drivers, he said.

“Our pioneering technology has gone further to enhance safety with every trip tracked and recorded by GPS,” Mr. Elvidge said, adding that the company had “a dedicated team who work closely with the Metropolitan Police.”

He also said Greyball had not been used to block scrutiny by regulators or the police in London.

The move by regulators in London “picks up the political mood of the times,” said Tony Travers, a professor at the London School of Economics. “London, like New York and Paris, is full of urban progressives who, even if they use Uber, feel guilty when they read things about it that they don’t like.”

On Thursday, a Dutch appeals court upheld a ban of an Uber service in the Netherlands, saying the company’s low-cost UberPop ride-hailing offering had been operated illegally. The French authorities took a similar case to the Court of Justice of the European Union, and last year Uber and two executives were convicted and fined the equivalent of nearly $500,000 in France in relation to UberPop.

In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio has criticized Uber’s rapid expansion for making congestion worse on city streets. But in 2015, his administration backed down from a fight with Uber by abruptly dropping a plan for a cap on the number of Uber vehicles operating within the city.

Until now, London had been one of Uber’s most notable success stories outside the United States. It debuted in the city in 2012, just before the Summer Olympics, initially with a luxury service. It added UberX, which competes more directly with the city’s storied black taxis, a year later. The company now operates in more than 40 cities and towns across Britain.

Its arrival here, however, created a clash almost immediately with the black cabs, which trace their roots to 1634.