€825m Fine For Uber Shines Spotlight On Automated Decision Making

In August, Uber was issued with an €825m fine by the Dutch data protection authority for taking unlawful automated decisions to suspend and deactivate driver accounts.

While data protection authorities rarely use the full extent of their fining powers under the GDPR, this is a notable exception, with the automated decision making fine amounting to almost 2% of Uber’s 2025 worldwide annual turnover. As you would expect, Uber has appealed against the fine.

The Uber drivers’ complaint was based on a process that automatically suspended drivers where they had low customer ratings, or where they were suspected of fraud. When customer ratings were persistently low, drivers had their Uber accounts deactivated permanently.