European regulators have imposed billions in penalties on US technology companies due to privacy, competition and digital market rules
The Dutch data protection authority has fined Uber €825m ($966m) for deactivating driver accounts through automated systems without adequately informing them, according to a 17 August decision.
The penalty would be the second-largest issued yet under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
It is behind only a €1.2bn ($1.4bn) fine imposed on Meta by Ireland in 2023 for unlawfully transferring European Facebook users’ data to the United States. Meta is appealing.
“We strongly disagree with this decision and disproportionate fine,” a spokesperson said, adding that the company takes drivers’ rights seriously and its policies include both human reviews and opportunities for drivers to dispute platform suspensions.
The Dutch authority confirmed the decision later on Friday.
“Uber has committed serious infringements” by deactivating driver accounts without warning or human involvement, the organization’s deputy chair Monique Verdier said in a statement.
“From one moment to the next they no longer had any income … A computer should not make decisions on its own that have (such) major consequences.”
European regulators have imposed billions of euros in penalties on large US technology companies in recent years under privacy, competition and digital market rules. The EU fined Google €890m ($1.04bn) for anti-competitive actions last month.
Meta, Google, Apple and Amazon all face multiple fines, though headline fines are often reduced or reversed after years-long appeals processes. Donald Trump has criticized such fines. In April, a US state department official said they were the “biggest single source of friction” in US-EU economic relations.
GDPR rules ban decisions made solely by computer algorithms when they have a significant impact on people’s lives, such as on employment, saying such decisions require meaningful human review and a way to challenge a decision.
The case against Uber concerns European incidents from 2018 to 2022, stemming initially from a French complaint. It was handled by the Dutch regulator because Uber’s European headquarters are in the Netherlands.
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Uber temporarily suspended accounts of some drivers who were suspected of fraud, including when its systems concluded drivers had taken unnecessary detours to inflate fares or accepted trips without intending to complete them.
Uber said such suspensions were usually brief, and it did not permanently deactivate such accounts without human review.