OREANDA-NEWS. April 11, 2016. Uber agreed Thursday to pay as much as \\$25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the county of Los Angeles and the county of San Francisco that accused the ride-hailing company of misleading consumers about safety.

Uber also agreed to a host of changes to its marketing and operations to address concerns raised by the suit. Uber said in a blog post Thursday that it had already instituted some of those changes.

"The result we achieved today goes well beyond its impact on Uber," San Francisco District Attorney George Gasc?n said in a statement. "It sends a clear message to all businesses, and to startups in particular, that in the quest to quickly obtain market share, laws designed to protect consumers cannot be ignored."

Uber agreed to pay a civil penalty of \\$10 million that will be split equally between San Francisco and Los Angeles. If the company fails to meet the terms of the settlement over the next two years, it will have to pay an additional \\$15 million.

As part of the settlement, Uber agreed to stop using terms like "safest ride on the road" in its advertising or describe its background checks as "the gold standard."