Exclusive-Dutch regulator fines Uber $966 million for automating driver suspensions

By Toby Sterling

AMSTERDAM, Aug 21 (Reuters) - The Dutch Data Protection Authority has fined Uber €825 million ($966 million) for deactivating driver accounts through automated systems without adequately informing them, according to an August 17 decision reviewed by Reuters.

The penalty would be the second-largest issued yet under Europe's General Data Protection Regulation.

It is behind only a €1.2 billion fine imposed on Meta by Ireland in 2023 for unlawfully transferring European Facebook users' data to the United States. Meta is appealing.

Uber said it would also appeal.

"We strongly disagree with this decision and disproportionate fine," a spokesperson said, adding that the company takes drivers' rights seriously and its policies include both human reviews and opportunities for drivers to dispute platform suspensions.

The Dutch authority confirmed the decision later on Friday.

"Uber has committed serious infringements," in deactivating driver accounts without warning or human involvement, the organisation's deputy chair Monique Verdier said in a statement.

"From one moment to the next they no longer had any income ... A computer should not make decisions on its own that have (such) major consequences."

EUROPEAN REGULATORS IMPOSE HUGE FINES ON BIG TECH

European regulators have imposed billions of euros in penalties on large U.S. technology companies in recent years under privacy, competition, and digital market rules.

Meta, Google, Apple and Amazon all face multiple fines, though headline fines are often reduced or reversed after years-long appeals processes.

U.S. President Donald Trump has criticised such fines and in April, a U.S. State Department official said they were the "biggest single source of friction" in U.S.-EU economic relations.

GDPR rules ban decisions made solely by computer algorithms when they have a significant impact on people's lives, saying such decisions require meaningful human review and a way to challenge a decision.

The case against Uber concerns European incidents in 2018 to 2022, stemming initially from a French complaint. It was handled by the Dutch regulator because Uber's European headquarters are in the Netherlands.

Uber temporarily suspended accounts of some drivers who were suspected of fraud, including when its systems concluded drivers had taken unnecessary detours to inflate fares or accepted trips without intending to complete them.  

Uber said such suspensions were usually brief, and it did not permanently deactivate such accounts without human review. 

Drivers with low customer ratings were sometimes permanently deactivated by computer, the Dutch agency said. Uber disputed that, saying it had never automated permanent deactivation decisions.

The company said one reason it considers the fine disproportionate is that only a small number of drivers were affected, with 126 having been deactivated in Europe as a result of low customer ratings in 2021.

The agency said the fine was calculated as a fraction of Uber's 2025 annual turnover.

Swiss digital-rights group PersonalData.io — which helped the French Uber drivers seek data about the algorithmic decisions affecting their work, eventually leading to the Dutch investigation — said it was pleased with the decision.

Founder Paul-Olivier Dehaye said the group is preparing a class action suit against Uber seeking compensation for drivers.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Elaine Hardcastle and Barbara Lewis)