Uber Fined €825 Million in Europe: Over-reliance on robotic systems and artificial intelligence has proved to be a heavy hit for global cab service company Uber. Uber has been fined ₹9,000 crore (about $964 million) by the Netherlands’ data protection authority for violating strict data protection rules in Europe. The crackdown is due to automated decisions taken without human review affecting drivers’ livelihoods.
According to the investigation report, the entire case is to incidents between the years 2018 to 2022. Uber used a software that permanently suspended drivers’ accounts without any human intervention. As soon as the software became suspicious, the drivers were shut off their earnings without any notice or warning. According to the authority, it is inappropriate to rely entirely on machines in matters to people’s livelihood.
Violation of GDPR strictures
According to the rules of the European Union’s ‘General Data Protection Regulation’ (GDPR), no automated system can make decisions that seriously affect people’s lives without human review. During the investigation, it was revealed that Uber did not provide clear information to its drivers about this machine system. Based on this serious violation of the rules, the company has been charged under the Data Privacy Act.
A fine of crores was also imposed in the past
Uber has announced that it will appeal to the court defending itself against this penalty verdict. A company spokesperson claimed that the policies that led to the fines were amended years ago and now have a proper human review and appeals process in place. It is to be noted that this is not the first time that such an action has been taken against Uber. Earlier in 2024, the company was fined 290 million euros for lapses to the transfer of European drivers’ data to America.
