Dutch DPA fines Uber €825M over automated driver deactivations

The Dutch Data Protection Authority has fined Uber €825 million (about $966 million) for suspending and deactivating driver accounts through automated systems without adequate human oversight, TechCrunch reported. It is the second-largest GDPR penalty on record, behind only the €1.2 billion Ireland levied on Meta in 2023.

The regulator's framing was blunt. "A computer should not make decisions on its own that have [such] major consequences," said Deputy Chair Monique Verdier. Between 2018 and 2022, Uber used software to monitor driver behaviour and customer ratings, temporarily suspending accounts when fraud was suspected and, in some cases, permanently deactivating accounts with consistently low ratings. The AP says those calls were made without sufficient human assessment.

Uber is fighting the finding. "We strongly disagree with this decision and disproportionate fine," an Uber spokesperson said, arguing that most suspensions are temporary and that permanent deactivations require human review. The company plans to appeal.

The complaint that produced the fine began with one person. Former French Uber driver Brahim Ben Ali collected testimonies from 170 drivers after his own 2019 account deactivation and filed in the Netherlands, where Uber's European headquarters sit, with help from the nonprofit PersonalData.io. "If just one person reports a very serious problem, the consequences can be enormous," said founder Paul-Olivier Dehaye, who is launching a new company, StartClaims, to support driver compensation litigation.

This is the third Dutch penalty against Uber, following earlier fines of €290 million and €10 million for driver data handling. The case joins 273 regulation stories in our tracker over the last 90 days.