The Dutch Data Protection Authority has fined Uber 825 million euros ($966 million) for deactivating driver accounts through automated systems without adequately informing them, in the second-largest penalty ever issued under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation.
The decision, made on 17 August and disclosed publicly on 22 August, found that Uber violated Article 22 of the GDPR, which gives individuals a right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing when those decisions produce legal or similarly significant effects. For ride-hailing drivers, losing platform access means losing the ability to earn income immediately.
What the Regulator Found
The Dutch authority determined that Uber permanently deactivated some driver accounts based on low customer ratings through computer algorithms, without providing meaningful human review or an opportunity to contest the decision. Deputy chair Monique Verdier said the company had committed “serious infringements.”
“From one moment to the next they no longer had any income,” Verdier said in a statement. “A computer should not make decisions on its own that have such major consequences.”
The investigation began after a French complaint and was handled by the Netherlands because Uber’s European headquarters are based in Amsterdam. It covered incidents across Europe between 2018 and 2022. Swiss digital-rights group PersonalData.io assisted the French drivers in obtaining data about algorithmic decisions affecting their work.
Uber to Appeal
Uber said it strongly disagreed with the decision and the “disproportionate” fine, adding that it plans to appeal. A company spokesperson argued that permanent account deactivations were never fully automated and that meaningful human review was available to affected drivers.
The company also noted that only a small number of drivers were affected, with 126 having been deactivated in Europe due to low customer ratings in 2021. The fine was calculated as a fraction of Uber’s 2025 annual turnover.
The penalty is second only to a 1.2 billion euro fine imposed on Meta by Ireland in 2023 for unlawfully transferring European Facebook users’ data to the United States. Uber’s fine adds to a growing list of billions of euros in penalties European regulators have levied on major U.S. technology companies under privacy, competition and digital market rules.
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