Uber Fined €825 Million Over Automated Driver Suspensions. It Says It Will Appeal.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority says Uber deactivated driver accounts through an automated process without sufficient warning or human oversight. Uber disputes the finding and says it will appeal.

Uber has been fined €825 million over driver accounts that were switched off through an automated process. That is roughly $966 million, and the second largest penalty issued so far under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, TechCrunch reported on August 23, 2026, citing Reuters. The report does not say when the penalty takes effect, or how many driver accounts the case covers.

The penalty comes from the Dutch Data Protection Authority, the privacy regulator in the Netherlands, where Uber's European headquarters are located, according to the same report.

The case turns on a question anyone who drives for a living recognizes: whether software alone can end a person's ability to work, and who has to read the file before it does. The reporting here concerns drivers in Europe. It does not address California, or how Uber handles deactivations for drivers in Los Angeles.

What the regulator says it found

The Dutch regulator was investigating complaints that Uber deactivated driver accounts through an automated process without sufficient warning or human oversight, TechCrunch reported. Deputy chair Monique Verdier said in a statement that the company had committed serious infringements. "A computer should not make decisions on its own that have [such] major consequences," Verdier said, in remarks carried by the outlet.

Uber disputes that account. Most driver suspensions are brief, no permanent deactivations occur without human review, and drivers can appeal, the company argued. Dutch regulators said some drivers were permanently deactivated without human review, which Uber disputes. "We strongly disagree with this decision and disproportionate fine," an Uber spokesperson told Reuters. The company said it will appeal the decision.

Where the complaint started

Brahim Ben Ali, a former Uber driver in France, told the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant that his account was deactivated in 2019, and that he went on to collect testimonies from 170 other Uber drivers before bringing the complaint in the Netherlands, per TechCrunch.

He had help from PersonalData.io, a Swiss nonprofit focused on digital rights, which assisted drivers in collecting data on how the deactivation decisions were made. Founder Paul-Olivier Dehaye told TechCrunch this is the third fine the Dutch regulator has levied on Uber. The earlier two were €290 million over the handling of drivers' personal data and €10 million over related issues.

All three fines originate with complaints from the same group of drivers, Dehaye said. He told the outlet he plans to start a class action through which drivers can seek compensation, and a new company, StartClaims, to support that litigation and further regulatory action — first against Uber, later other gig economy cases and adtech. TechCrunch's writer disclosed that he has known Dehaye casually since college.

The fight over what a computer decided

Writing at Daring Fireball, John Gruber argued the fine risks making it unlawful in the European Union for Uber to monitor drivers for scams, or for taking rides and never picking anyone up. He also objected to the framing. Saying a computer made the decision, he wrote, is like saying a time clock fires a habitually late employee: managers set the policy, the device measures compliance.

Dehaye said that misses the point. Uber is free to use people to penalize drivers who scam, he told TechCrunch, but then it has to own the decision — behaving as an employer rather than as a marketplace.

Source: techcrunch.com, retrieved August 24, 2026.