Uber hit with a nearly $1 billion fine for automatically deactivating drivers in Europe

Uber faces a nearly $1 billion fine from a Dutch data protection authority for using automated systems to deactivate drivers in Europe, a move regulators say violated the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Dutch regulator, known as the AP, imposed the penalty of 824.9 million euros on the ride-hailing company after an investigation prompted by complaints from 171 French drivers. Those drivers reported to a local human rights organization that they were suddenly cut off from the Uber platform without human review, according to the AP.

The AP said the automated decisions stripped drivers of their income without meaningful human intervention, which the regulator considers a breach of GDPR rules that protect individuals from purely algorithmic judgments with significant consequences. Monique Verdier, deputy chair of the AP, said in the investigation that drivers went from having income through Uber to having none in an instant, and that a computer should not make such impactful choices on its own. Uber’s European headquarters are located in the Netherlands, which is why the Dutch agency took jurisdiction over the case.

The fine is calculated at the maximum allowable level under GDPR, which permits penalties of up to four percent of a company’s global annual turnover. The AP determined that this threshold applied to Uber’s worldwide revenue, leading to the 824.9 million euro figure. Uber has already filed an appeal against the penalty, according to the AP, though the company has not yet publicly responded to requests for comment.

This is not the first time the AP has sanctioned Uber. The regulator previously fined the company three times, including a 600,000 euro penalty in 2018 and a 10 million euro fine in 2023. The largest prior penalty against Uber came in 2024, when the AP issued a 290 million euro fine for improperly transferring personal data of European drivers to the United States. The new fine dwarfs that earlier amount, making it the largest regulatory action the AP has taken against Uber to date.

For U.S. audiences, the case highlights how European privacy law can impact American tech firms operating abroad, especially around automated decision-making in the gig economy. While Uber does not face similar GDPR fines in the United States, the company’s reliance on algorithmic driver management is a global practice. The Dutch regulator’s action signals that European authorities are willing to use maximum penalties to enforce data protection rules against major U.S. platforms. The case remains under appeal, and the final outcome could take years to resolve.

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