The Dutch Data Protection Authority proposes to impose a fine of Euro825 million on Uber because of the use of automated decision-making and the lack of sufficient human scrutiny by the company in the case of some of the driver ' s account disposals. This amount is approximately $966 million. According to Reuters, this is one of the second highest penalties since the introduction of the EU General Data Protection Regulation.
Controversy focused on account disablement process
The Dutch regulatory body investigated that Uber had not given sufficient warning when the driver ' s account had been discontinued, nor had it provided sufficient labour to make final judgements in all cases. Monique Verdier, Vice-President of the Supervisory Authority, said that such decisions, which would have significant consequences for individuals, should not be left to the sole discretion of computers.
Uber objected to this assertion. According to the company, most of the shutdowns were only short-term measures and would not be carried out without manual review and the driver could file a complaint. However, the Dutch regulatory bodies believe that some drivers are permanently disabled without manual review.
Uber said he'd file an appeal.
The Uber stated that it strongly disagreed with the decision and the amount of the fine, that the penalty was manifestly excessive and that the result would be appealed. TechCrunch states that further evidence has been sought from Uber in this regard.
The case originally came from a complaint filed by former French Uber driver Brahim Ben Ali. After the account had been disabled in 2019, he collected the testimony of 171 other drivers and then submitted the complaint to the Netherlands. The European headquarters of Uber is in the Netherlands, so cases are handled by local regulators.
Driver group or continuing claim
PersonalData.io, a Swiss digital rights non-profit organization involved in assisting the driver, stated that the driver, even if he had completed a large number of regular orders, could face considerable consequences as a result of a single serious complaint. Paul-Olivier Dehaye, founder of the agency, stated that the Dutch regulatory body had previously issued a $290 million ticket to Uber for the driver ' s personal data processing, which was another penalty.
Dehaye also indicated that the fines were based on complaints from the same drivers and that he planned to promote class actions to help drivers seek compensation and to extend the model to more casual economic cases.
Disagreements also arose around the case. One view was that the Platform needed to rely on a systematic identification of fraud or breach of contract, while another was that it should be more directly responsible for decision-making if drivers were automatically punished by the Platform.