Dutch DPA Fines Uber €824.99 Million for GDPR Violations
The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) has fined Uber €824.99 million for violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The authority found that Uber used fully automated systems to deactivate drivers’ accounts when the software detected suspected fraud or consistently low customer ratings.
The account suspensions had serious financial consequences. Drivers immediately lost access to work through Uber and, as a result, could lose their income. Some accounts were temporarily deactivated, while others were permanently closed after repeated low ratings. According to the AP, these decisions were made without a prior assessment by a human reviewer.
The GDPR generally restricts decisions based solely on automated processing when they have legal or similarly significant effects on individuals. The AP stated that Uber’s software assessed driver behaviour and customer feedback, then automatically decided whether an account should be suspended or closed. The authority also found that Uber did not provide drivers with sufficient information about this automated decision-making process.
The investigation began after 171 French drivers submitted complaints to the Ligue des droits de l’Homme, a French human rights organization. The organization filed the complaint with France’s data protection authority, the CNIL. Because Uber’s European headquarters are located in the Netherlands, the AP led the investigation under the GDPR’s one-stop-shop procedure and cooperated with the CNIL and other European regulators.
Monique Verdier, deputy chair of the AP, said that a computer should not independently make decisions with such serious consequences for a person’s livelihood. She emphasized that decisions to deactivate drivers should first be reviewed by a human being.
The AP said that Uber has since stopped the practices that led to the violations. Uber has appealed the fine. Under the GDPR, fines can reach up to 4% of a company’s worldwide annual turnover. Uber reported global revenue of approximately €44.5 billion in 2025, although the final amount of any penalty remains subject to the appeal process.
This is the fourth fine that the AP has imposed on Uber. Earlier penalties included €600,000 in 2018, €10 million in 2023 and €290 million in 2024. Uber is also challenging the two most recent earlier fines, and those proceedings remain ongoing.
