Uber Appeals Record $966 Million European Fine Issued Over Automated Driver Terminations
Dutch regulatory authority levies maximum penalty under GDPR over algorithmic account lockouts
The Dutch Data Protection Authority has issued an 824.9 million euro fine against Uber, marking the regulatory body’s largest penalty to date against the ride-hailing giant. The fine, which equals roughly $966 million, follows an extensive investigation into automated driver account deactivations across Europe.
Dutch regulators determined that Uber violated Article 22 of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation by automatically terminating driver accounts between 2018 and 2022. Under the regulation, individuals have the right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing when those decisions produce significant legal or economic effects without human oversight.
Because Uber maintains its European headquarters in Amsterdam, the Dutch watchdog took jurisdiction over the cross-border inquiry under the EU’s centralized regulatory framework, which originated from formal complaints filed by 171 French drivers through a local human rights organization.
Monique Verdier, deputy chair of the Dutch Data Protection Authority, stated that drivers were abruptly stripped of their livelihood without warning or meaningful human review. She emphasized that fully automated systems should not unilaterally make decisions that carry major financial consequences for individuals.
The 824.9 million euro penalty was set at the statutory maximum allowed under the GDPR, calculated as 4% of Uber’s global annual revenue. The penalty pushes the total sanctions levied against Uber by the Dutch regulator above 1.1 billion euros across four separate enforcement actions, including a 290 million euro fine in 2024 over improper transfers of European driver data to servers located in the United States.
The Dutch authority previously fined Uber 600,000 euros in 2018 over data breach disclosures, followed by a 10 million euro fine in 2023 regarding privacy terms transparency.
Uber has formally submitted an appeal against the latest decision, contesting both the regulatory findings and the magnitude of the financial penalty. The appeal will now move through the Dutch administrative court system, a legal process that could take months to reach a final judicial ruling.
