Software decided which drivers lost their livelihood. The bill for that decision is 825 million euros.
The Dutch data protection authority has fined Uber 825 million euros, about 966 million dollars, in a decision dated 17 August and reported on 21 August. Between 2020 and 2022 Uber's systems suspended European drivers' accounts automatically when they were flagged for suspected fraud, such as detours that inflated a fare or trips accepted but never completed, and in some cases permanently deactivated drivers whose passenger ratings were low. Under the GDPR a decision that significantly affects someone cannot rest on software alone: a person has to be genuinely involved, the driver has to be told what happened, and there has to be a way to contest it. The regulator found Uber failed on those counts. Uber says it strongly disagrees, calls the fine disproportionate and will appeal, and says it has never fully automated a permanent deactivation, while acknowledging that 126 European drivers lost accounts on ratings grounds in 2021. Only Meta's 1.2 billion euro penalty in 2023 is larger.
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