Uber is the Übermensch of the sharing economy. It's better at making money than other startups, it knows how to politick better, and it throws sharper elbows. Uber applied the same superior machinations to a press release claiming that Lyft wants to get acquired by Uber.

The statement was in response to accusations of sabotage from Lyft, Uber's rival car service app. Yesterday, Lyft told CNN that Uber recruiters were responsible for canceling 5,560 rides and other tricks. Uber initially deflected blame, suggesting that the cancellations came from overzealous riders paid to convert Lyft drivers (a logical fallacy since riders wouldn't win Uber rewards by hitting cancel.)

[Uber] went on to imply that some of the people identified by Lyft could have been average passengers looking to make money, as opposed to professional Uber recruiters: "We even recently ran a program where thousands of riders recruited drivers from many platforms, earning hundreds of dollars in Uber credits for each driver who tries Uber."

But today Uber decided, fuck it, let's just throw shade instead. The company managed to spread the idea that Lyft is guilty of the same shenanigans, while sounding like it took the high road—and without the burden of offering any evidence. Then, Uber sympathized with Lyft's "expected" desperation.

Lyft's claims against Uber are baseless and simply untrue. Furthermore, Lyft's own drivers and employees, including one of Lyft's founders, have canceled 12,900 trips on Uber. But instead of providing the long list of questionable tactics that Lyft has used over the years, we are focusing on building and maintaining the best platform for both consumers and drivers.

These attacks from Lyft are unfortunate but somewhat expected. A number of Lyft investors have recently been pushing Uber to acquire Lyft. One of their largest shareholders recently warned that Lyft would "go nuclear" if we do not acquire them. We can only assume that the recent Lyft attacks are part of that strategy.

"We can only assume." A for effort, Lyft, but this is how you undermine a competitor.

To contact the author of this post, please email nitasha@gawker.com.