Uber Fined €825m in Netherlands

The Dutch data protection authority has fined Uber €825m ($965m) under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The penalty concerns the company's practices between 2020 and 2022, when it temporarily deactivated some drivers' accounts over suspected fraud without properly informing them, according to Euractiv.

In its assessment, Uber relied partly on trip length to determine whether drivers were taking unnecessary detours to inflate prices or accepting rides they had not planned to take. These decisions directly affected the drivers' ability to earn a living.

Uber said it strongly disagreed with the decision and the size of what it called a disproportionate fine, and added that it would appeal. According to a company spokesperson, the authority had reviewed only historical policies that were abolished years ago.

The fine is the second-largest imposed under the GDPR since 2018, behind only the €1.2bn ($1.4bn) penalty imposed on Meta in 2023.

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