The Dutch Data Protection Authority has fined Uber €825 million (roughly $966 million) — the second-largest GDPR penalty on record — over the automated suspension of driver accounts without adequate human oversight. Uber said it will appeal the decision.
The Dutch Data Protection Authority has issued a €825 million fine — roughly $966 million — against Uber over its use of automated systems to suspend driver accounts, marking the second-largest penalty ever levied under Europe's General Data Protection Regulation.
TechCrunch reported that Dutch regulators investigated complaints that Uber had deactivated driver accounts through an automated process without adequate warning or meaningful human oversight.
Deputy chair Monique Verdier said in a statement that the company had "committed serious infringements." "A computer should not make decisions on its own that have [such] major consequences," Verdier said.
Uber disputed the regulator's characterization on several points. The company argued that most driver suspensions are brief, that permanent deactivations do not occur without human review, and that drivers retain the ability to appeal.
Dutch regulators, however, said some drivers were permanently deactivated without human review — a claim Uber contests. The company said it intends to appeal the ruling. "We strongly disagree with this decision and disproportionate fine," an Uber spokesperson said.
The case traces back to a French former Uber driver, Brahim Ben Ali, whose account was deactivated in 2019. Ben Ali subsequently gathered testimonies from 170 other drivers before bringing his complaint to the Netherlands, where Uber's European headquarters are located. He was assisted by PersonalData.io, a Swiss nonprofit focused on digital rights.
Paul-Olivier Dehaye, founder of PersonalData.io, noted that the Dutch regulator's action against Uber is its third, following a €290 million fine over the handling of drivers' personal data and a separate €10 million penalty stemming from related issues. Dehaye said all three fines originate from complaints filed by the same group of drivers.
Dehaye also described the algorithmic stakes plainly. A driver "can complete a thousand journeys with satisfied passengers, but if just one person reports a very serious problem, the consequences can be enormous," he said.
Uber's core defense centers on the argument that it does exercise human judgment in permanent deactivations, framing its automated tools as screening mechanisms rather than final decision-makers. That argument puts the company in direct tension with the regulator's finding that its systems operated without sufficient oversight.
Dehaye is now launching a new company, StartClaims, to pursue a class action suit through which affected drivers can seek compensation. He said the effort would begin with claims against Uber before expanding to other gig economy cases and areas such as adtech.
The fine lands as regulators across the European Union continue to test GDPR's reach into algorithmic decision-making — an area that has drawn growing scrutiny as platform companies increasingly rely on automated systems to manage large, distributed workforces. With Uber's appeal expected to extend the legal battle well beyond this initial ruling, the case is set to become a closely watched test of how far European law can constrain employer-style automation by companies that classify workers as independent contractors.
TechEchelon Staff bylines are produced collectively by the newsroom for short, breaking, and wire-style coverage. Longer-form reporting is published under the responsible reporter's name.
More from the Staff →Romania's military used an F-16 fighter jet to disable an explosive-laden Russian drone boat found near the Neptun Deep offshore gas project in the Black Sea on August 20, the second suspected Russian drone incident near the site this month.
TikTok and ByteDance have agreed to a $400 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations that the platform allowed millions of children under 13 to use the service while collecting their personal data without required parental consent.
The editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes said Friday he was fired after telling CBS News that censorship of military news would cross a personal red line, as the Pentagon confirmed notices were sent to the paper's leadership.
Written for readers who already know the basics — markets, AI, and the policy decisions that shape both.