Uber has been fined €825 million (about $966 million) by the Dutch data protection regulator over the automated suspension and deactivation of driver accounts in the Netherlands, it was confirmed on Friday, 21 August 2026.
The Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, the country’s privacy watchdog, found that the company used fully automated systems to suspend and in some cases permanently deactivate drivers between 2018 and 2022 without adequate human review, as reported by The Guardian.
What the Uber Netherlands driver suspension fine covers
Drivers were removed from the platform by software rather than by a person, with no warning in some instances and no human check before the decision took effect.
For a driver, the practical result was an account that stopped working and earnings that stopped with it.
Monique Verdier, deputy chair of the Dutch Data Protection Authority, delivered the regulator’s assessment of the company’s conduct over that four-year period.
The authority is the body responsible for enforcing European data protection law in the Netherlands. Her summary of the finding was brief:
“Uber has committed serious infringements.”
Verdier also set out the effect on the individuals concerned, many of whom relied on the platform for their entire income and were given no route to a person who could review the decision.
On that point Verdier said:
“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.”
Where the Uber Netherlands driver suspension fine ranks
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) bars companies from making decisions of this kind purely by automation where the consequences are significant, unless a person reviews the outcome.
The regulator also found the company had not properly told drivers that decisions about their accounts were being taken automatically.
The penalty is the second largest issued under the regulation since it took effect, behind a €1.2 billion fine imposed on Meta by Ireland’s regulator in 2023.
Penalties under the rules are calculated against global turnover, which is how figures at that scale are reached.
What Uber said about the driver suspension fine
An Uber spokesperson rejected the regulator’s conclusion and the size of the penalty. The company says its policies include human review and allow drivers to dispute an account suspension, and that it takes driver rights seriously. The spokesperson said:
“We strongly disagree with this decision and disproportionate fine.”
An appeal will now move the case into the Dutch courts, where the fine can be upheld, reduced or set aside.
The regulator’s finding on automated decision-making stands in the meantime, and it is that principle, more than the amount, that other platforms will be reading closely.
