Jordanian media outlets disseminated news about a company providing public transport services in the city of Amman through an electronic application on mobile phones without offering the views of official agencies about the legality of providing such a service. Likewise, no official entity has offered any clarifications about the story and the impact of this service on the licensed transport sector.

According to Al Ghad newspaper, the service is provided through creating an account on the "application" by passengers and drivers who wish to use it. The driver will provide transport services by his licensed car based on certain arrangements with the company, which determines the specifications of the driver and the car. Payment for the service is made electronically through credit cards that are registered in the account beforehand.

The Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor "AKEED" is of the view that the media have not played their role in revealing aspects related to the service and only published statements by the company about beginning to provide its services in Jordan, which is part of promoting a service that turned out to be unlicensed.

The last news item published about this subject was a report by Al Ghad newspaper, which explained the aspects of the service and ways to obtain it. The report did not mention the legal basis for providing the service and did not seek the opinion of the Amman Municipality in its capacity as the entity in charge of managing and organizing public transportation in Amman.

The news site Ammon was satisfied with asking questions addressed to the Public Transport Commission without answering them or following up on them with specialized persons. This was in a news report it published under the headline: "Rented Cars Operating as Taxis in Amman." The report said: "Are car rental agencies allowed to rent cars as taxis or not? Will taxi operators, who pay taxes, fees for meters, and other fees to the state, be adversely affected or not?"

The first report published about the service, carried by most local media outlets in April, was a statement by the company as follows: "Uber, a company specialized in applications for transport services via smart phones, announced the launch of its services in Amman, which will be city number 300 worldwide for the company, five years after the company launched its operations in San Francisco, the United States, in 2010."

AKEED contacted Engineer Abdul Raheem Wreikat, director of transport operations at the Amman Municipality, and it turned out that the company does not operate according to Jordanian law. Wreikat said that no entity is allowed to provide transport services in Amman except through an official license.

Wreikat pointed out that the company was registered with the Ministry of Industry and Trade as a provider of electronic applications, and not a provider of transport services. He explained that a committee was formed, comprising official agencies, including the Transport Sector Regulatory Commission, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Transport, and others to take a decision on this subject.

Wreikat pointed out that providing transport services by private cars is a violation of the Transport Law. This also applies to rented cars if they transport passengers for a fare. Besides, the principle of a flat rate in transportation is legally impermissible.

According to the standards of journalistic work adopted by AKEED in verification, the media publishing reports about the company without heeding the legal and legislative aspects of its operations undermines the standards of balance, comprehensiveness, and completeness by providing one-sided information and not airing the opinions of all relevant sides.