The Dutch Data Protection Authority has fined Uber approximately 966 million dollars, or 825 million euros, over its automated system for suspending driver accounts. The penalty is the second largest issued under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, according to Reuters. The regulator said the company suspended drivers through an automated process that lacked sufficient warning and human oversight, affecting drivers in the EU.
The Dutch regulator’s deputy chair, Monique Verdier, said in a statement that the company committed serious infringements and that a computer should not make decisions on its own when those decisions carry major consequences. Uber responded that most driver suspensions are brief, that no permanent deactivations take place without human review, and that drivers can appeal. The company disputes the regulator’s claim that some drivers were permanently deactivated without human review and said it will appeal the decision and the fine, which it considers disproportionate.
The case originated with a complaint from Brahim Ben Ali, a former Uber driver in France. After his account was deactivated in 2019, he collected testimonies from 171 other Uber drivers and brought the complaint to the Netherlands, where Uber’s European headquarters are located. He was assisted by PersonalData.io, a Swiss nonprofit focused on digital rights, which helped drivers gather data on how the deactivation decisions were made.
Paul-Olivier Dehaye, founder of PersonalData.io, said a driver can complete a thousand journeys with satisfied passengers, but one report of a very serious problem can have enormous consequences. Dehaye noted that this is the third fine the Dutch regulator has levied against Uber, following a 290 million euro fine over the company’s handling of drivers’ personal data and a 10 million euro fine for related issues. He added that all of these fines stem from complaints made by the same group of drivers.
Dehaye said he plans to launch a class action suit through which drivers can seek compensation. He is also starting a new company called StartClaims to support litigation and other regulatory actions, first against Uber and later expanding to other gig economy cases and related areas like adtech. The fines and the new legal efforts signal ongoing scrutiny of how platform companies use automated decision-making for workers.
The case has drawn commentary from John Gruber of Daring Fireball, who argued that the fine effectively makes it unlawful in the EU for Uber to monitor drivers for scams or for failing to pick up riders. Gruber also questioned the regulator’s framing of a computer making the decisions, comparing it to a time clock being blamed for firing a habitually late employee, and said managers set the policies that software enforces. He noted that Uber can use human oversight for punishment decisions, but must then accept responsibility for those decisions as an employer rather than a marketplace.
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