Uber has a nearly $1 billion problem in Europe, and it has nothing to do with a crash.
The Dutch privacy watchdog has fined Uber €825 million (approximately $966 million) for the way it used automated systems to suspend and deactivate drivers.
Reuters reported that the decision was reached on Friday, Aug. 21. According to the regulator, Uber violated the EU General Data Protection Regulation by subjecting drivers to significant decisions based solely on automated processing without sufficient safeguards.
The regulator also found that Uber failed to give affected drivers sufficient information about how the automated decisions were made.
The case puts a spotlight on how much authority companies can delegate to automated systems when those systems make decisions about people’s ability to work. Uber disputes the findings and plans to appeal the decision.
Uber’s latest fine traces back years
According to Reuters, the Dutch regulator’s case covers incidents between 2018 and 2022, when Uber used automated systems to suspend drivers suspected of fraud.
The systems could flag behavior such as allegedly taking unnecessary detours to inflate fares or accepting trips without intending to complete them.
According to TechCrunch, one driver at the center of the complaint was Brahim Ben Ali, whose Uber account was deactivated in 2019. Ben Ali gathered testimony from about 170 other drivers and, with help from Swiss digital-rights nonprofit PersonalData.io, brought the complaint to the Netherlands.
The case follows two earlier privacy penalties against Uber.
In January 2024, the company was fined €10 million (approximately $11.64 million) for violations involving drivers’ personal data, followed by a €290 million fine (approximately $338.1 million) in August for transferring European drivers’ data to the US.
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Uber disputes the automated-decision findings
Reuters reports that Uber disputes the regulator’s conclusion that drivers were permanently deactivated solely through automated decision systems and plans to appeal the fine.
The company argues that it offers drivers an opportunity to dispute any decision.
Uber confirmed that 126 driver accounts were deactivated because of low customer ratings. However, the company disputes the regulator’s conclusion that permanent deactivations occurred without human involvement, saying most of the contested suspensions were temporary and that it has never fully automated permanent deactivation decisions.
Uber also pushed back on the size of the penalty, calling the fine “disproportionate,” according to Reuters. The Dutch regulator said the penalty was calculated as a fraction of Uber’s 2025 annual turnover.
What the Uber case means for automated decisions
Uber’s case lands amid broader concerns about automated systems. As these systems move into products and services that affect people’s money, work, and access to services, failures can have consequences beyond a technical error.
For organizations, the case is a warning against treating human oversight as a box to check after an automated decision has already been made.
That matters as AI increasingly becomes part of systems that screen applications, assess risk, detect fraud, rank people, and make recommendations that can feed into consequential decisions.
For users, the takeaway is simpler: when an automated system can affect your work, money, or access to a service, you need a meaningful way to understand and challenge the decision.
For companies and regulators, Uber’s appeal could help shape where the line falls between using automation as a tool and allowing it to make decisions on people’s behalf.
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