Dutch privacy agency fines Uber $324M for transferring drivers' data to US

By Tuba Ongun

The Netherlands' data protection watchdog on Monday imposed a fine of €290 million ($324 million) on Uber for transferring personal data of drivers to the US.

"Uber transferred personal data of European taxi drivers to the US and failed to appropriately safeguard the data with regard to these transfers," the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) said.

"Uber did not meet the requirements of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) to ensure the level of protection to the data with regard to transfers to the US. That is very serious," DPA Chairman Aleid Wolfsen said.

Data, collected and retained on US serves, includes account details and taxi licenses, location data, photos, payment details, identity documents, and in some cases even criminal and medical data of drivers, the watchdog found.

For a period of over 2 years, Uber sent those data to its headquarters in the US, without using transfer tools.

The investigation was started after complaints from more than 170 from French taxi drivers.

This is the third fine that the Dutch DPA imposed fines on Uber after €600,000 in 2018 and €10 million in 2023.