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Dutch regulator fines Uber €825m for automated driver account deactivations
The penalty, set under GDPR, is the second-largest issued by the regulator and involves account deactivations without adequate warning or human review.
The Dutch Data Protection Authority has fined Uber €825 million, about $966 million, for deactivating some drivers’ accounts through automated systems without adequately informing them, according to a decision dated August 17.
The regulator said the fine is the second-largest penalty it has issued under the EU General Data Protection Regulation, behind a €1.2 billion fine imposed on Meta by Ireland in 2023 over unlawful data transfers to the United States.
Uber said it strongly disagrees with the decision and the fine, adding that it takes drivers’ rights seriously and that its policies include human reviews as well as opportunities for drivers to dispute platform suspensions.
The watchdog cited how GDPR limits decisions made solely by computer algorithms when they have significant effects on people’s lives, and Uber’s case concerns European incidents from 2018 to 2022 that trace back to a French complaint, later handled by the Dutch regulator because Uber’s European headquarters are in the Netherlands.