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Uber fined €825 million over driver account deactivation under GDPR
The Dutch regulator said Uber’s automated deactivations left drivers without adequate warning or a meaningful way to contest the decision.
The Netherlands' Data Protection Authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, ordered Uber to pay €825 million, about $966 million, over how it deactivated driver accounts between 2020 and 2022, according to an August 17 decision.
The regulator said Uber’s systems, in some cases, disabled accounts without adequate warning or a meaningful way for drivers to challenge the outcome, finding that GDPR’s protections were breached. It also emphasized that losing platform access can amount to a serious consequence, even when the underlying dispute could be framed as an employment matter.
The decision highlights a potential coverage split for insurers, because a privacy regulator’s action under GDPR can fall under cyber or privacy-related policies rather than employment practices liability coverage, even when both arise from the same automated process.
Uber said it will appeal and called the fine disproportionate, noting that only 126 driver accounts were permanently deactivated across Europe in 2021 over low ratings. The regulator said some deactivations were made by computer with no human review, and that drivers generally were not properly told why accounts were suspended. The fine is suspended while the Dutch appeals process runs, which typically takes years, and the Netherlands case comes after a prior €290 million penalty in 2024 tied to sending European drivers’ data to the US without proper safeguards.