Full Breakdown
Uber fined €825 million by Dutch regulator for fully automated driver deactivations
8/24/2026, 7:53:47 AM
Core Event: GDPR penalty for algorithmic account blocking
The Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP), the Dutch Data Protection Authority, imposed a fine of €824,990,000 on Uber for automatically deactivating driver accounts between 2018 and 2022 without meaningful human oversight. The regulator concluded that the practice breached the General Data Protection Regulation’s (GDPR) prohibition on solely automated decision-making that produces a legal or similarly significant effect on individuals. Uber has filed an appeal against the decision.
Background & Context
Under GDPR Article 22, controllers must not rely on fully automated processing that produces significant consequences for a person unless specific safeguards—including genuine human intervention—are in place. The AP has previously fined Uber three times: €600,000 in 2018, €10 million in 2023, and €290 million in 2024 for data-transfer violations. The latest sanction follows complaints lodged by 171 French drivers through the Ligue des droits de l’Homme, which prompted the French CNIL to refer the case to the Dutch authority because Uber’s European headquarters are in the Netherlands.
Timeline
- 2018-2022 – Period during which Uber’s automated system flagged suspected fraud or low driver ratings and deactivated accounts.
- 17 August 2026 – The AP’s decision, the second-largest GDPR fine ever issued, was formally made.
- 21 August 2026 – The AP publicly announced the €824,990,000 penalty.
Data & Statistics
- Fine amount: €824,990,000 (? $966 million).
- Uber’s 2025 worldwide turnover: €44.5 billion (AP estimate).
- The penalty represents ? 1.85 % of turnover, or about 46 % of the statutory maximum (4 % of global turnover).
- This fine is 2.8 times larger than the €290 million penalty imposed in 2024.
Official Statements & Responses
- Uber maintains that permanent deactivations involve human review and that most suspensions are brief.
- Paul-Olivier Dehaye, founder of the digital-rights nonprofit PersonalData.io, described the impact on drivers as “from one moment to the next, they no longer had any income through Uber” and announced plans to launch a class-action platform to seek compensation.
Criticism & Opposition
He further contended that blaming “a computer” for the suspensions overlooks the role of company policies and human managers in setting the criteria that the algorithm enforces.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
The AP’s findings state that some drivers were permanently deactivated without any human review. The regulator has not published the total number of drivers affected, leaving the scale of the impact unclear.
Verbatim Quotes
- “A computer should not make decisions on its own that have [such] major consequences,” — Monique Verdier, deputy chair
- “From one moment to the next, they no longer had any income through Uber,” — Monique Verdier, deputy chair
