Uber God View screen.jpg

The "God View" screen displayed at Uber's 2011 Boston Launch Dinner.

(Screenshot from Uber's Facebook page)

A new report that a top New York City Uber executive used the ride-sharing service's "God View" tool to track a journalist is the latest in a week of unfavorable news for the company.

According to a BuzzFeed report, Josh Mohrer, the general manager of Uber NYC, used the "God View" tool to catalog trips taken in a Uber car by Johana Bhuiyan, a BuzzFeed reporter, without her permission.

BuzzFeed reports that Bhuiyan visited Uber's Long Island City headquarters earlier this month to interview Mohrer. When she arrived in an Uber car, Mohrer greeted the reporter by showing off his iPhone and said, "I was tracking you." Bhuiyan says she never gave anyone permission to track her. Uber said Tuesday it is investigating the report.

Uber's mobile app allows users to connect with drivers for hire, like taxi drivers, to request a ride within a city. Since its founding in 2009, the company has grown into a popular business that is valued at more than $17 billion, according to The New York Times. According to Time, the company is known for aggressive tactics that have helped fuel its explosive growth. These tactics have led to the company tiptoeing around controversies, including high-speed chases, abductions and driver poaching.

The company published its privacy policy for the first time on Tuesday, though it said the policy had always been in effect.

"Uber has a strict policy prohibiting all employees at every level from accessing a rider or driver's data. The only exception to this policy is for a limited set of legitimate business purposes. Our policy has been communicated to all employees and contractors."

In October 2011, Uber uploaded a photo album to its Facebook page of a Boston Launch Dinner event that included pictures of the "God View" screen.

Two former Uber employees told BuzzFeed that tracking customers is easy using "God View," an internal company tool. The employees said "God View," which was widely available to corporate employees, shows the location of Uber vehicles and customers who have requested a car. Drivers, who operate as contractors, do not have access to "God View."

Uber says "God View" is used for legal reasons and to track possible violations by the company's drivers, Mashable reports. In September, venture capitalist Peter Sims also claimed Uber tracked him without his permission. In a post for Medium, Sims wrote that a couple of years ago he was in an Uber SUV in New York heading to Penn Station when he got a text message from an unnamed "socialite of sorts." The woman texted him and revealed that she knew his exact location.

Late last week, BuzzFeed reported controversial comments made by Emil Michael, Uber's senior vice president, at an "arguably off-the-record" dinner in New York on Friday, according to Mashable. Michael suggested spending $1 million to smear journalists who criticized the company.

Specifically, Michael targeted Sarah Lacy, editor-in-chief of Pando Daily, who has written several critical articles about Uber and its approach to female passengers. Michael said women are far more likely to get assaulted by taxi drivers than Uber drivers. He thought Lacy should be held "personally responsible" for any woman who followed her lead in deleting Uber and was then sexually assaulted, according to the BuzzFeed report.

In a statement through Uber Monday evening, Michael said he regretted the comments and that they didn't reflect his or the company's views, Mashable reports. While Michael claimed he thought the dinner was off-the-record, the BuzzFeed reporter at the event said no such thing was ever conveyed to him.

Both Michael and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick apologized to Lacy on Twitter.