Uber has been fined 824.9 million euros in the Netherlands for deactivating drivers' accounts through automated systems, in violation of the GDPR.
The Dutch data protection authority ruled that Uber broke European privacy law when its systems flagged and deactivated driver accounts without adequate human oversight. The penalty comes to roughly $1 billion at current exchange rates, one of the larger GDPR fines levied against a single company. The ruling targets the mechanism, not a single incident: an algorithm making a decision with major consequences for someone's livelihood, with no clear path to a human reviewing that call. Uber's response to the ruling was not detailed in the available reporting.
GDPR has long included a right not to be subject to purely automated decisions with significant effects, but enforcement against gig platforms has been inconsistent and slow to bite. A fine approaching a billion euros signals regulators are willing to make an example of automated account bans specifically, not just data collection or targeted advertising, the more familiar GDPR battlegrounds. For any company running large-scale algorithmic management of workers, this is a preview of the bill that comes due when the algorithm can't explain itself.
For drivers who've had accounts frozen by a bot with no appeal, the fine won't undo a canceled shift, but it puts a price tag on ignoring them.