Dutch Privacy Regulator Fines Uber €825M ($966M) Over Automated Driver Account Deactivations
AMSTERDAM — The Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens - AP) has imposed a €825 million ($966 million) fine on Uber Technologies Inc. for using automated algorithms to deactivate and suspend driver accounts across Europe without adequate notification or meaningful human oversight.
The penalty marks the second-largest fine ever issued under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), behind only the €1.2 billion penalty levied against Meta by the Irish Data Protection Commission in 2023.
The Dutch regulator acted as the lead supervisory authority across the EU because Uber’s European headquarters are located in Amsterdam. The investigation, stemming from formal complaints submitted by 171 French drivers via the Ligue des droits de l'Homme (LDH) and France's CNIL, examined automated account suspensions between 2018 and 2022.
According to the AP, Uber used automated software to track driving behaviors, detect potential fraud (such as suspected route inflation or trip cancellations), and monitor customer ratings. Under GDPR Article 22, individuals have the right not to be subjected to decisions based solely on automated processing when those decisions produce legal or similarly significant effects, such as the immediate loss of income.
"Uber has committed serious infringements. Drivers were deactivated without pardon. From one moment to the next, they no longer had any income through Uber," Monique Verdier, Deputy Chair of the AP, said in an official statement. "That is forbidden. A computer should not make decisions on its own that have major consequences for you. These decisions should have been looked at first by a human being."
Uber announced it will appeal the decision, describing the fine as disproportionate. An Uber spokesperson stated that current operational policies incorporate human reviews and dispute avenues, disputing claims that permanent account deactivations were ever executed purely through automated systems.
The fine was calculated as a percentage of Uber’s global annual revenue for 2025 and represents the fourth penalty imposed by the Dutch regulator against the ride-hailing company.
