Uber’s full year revenue for 2023 was around €34.5 billion — so the level of sanction is well below that maximum. However, it is still a notable amount as it’s among the largest penalties levied on a tech company since the GDPR began operating back in 2018.
The fine is the outcome of a series of complaints made by more than 170 Uber drivers in France back in 2021. The Dutch regulator, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (or AP), leads on GDPR oversight of Uber as the company has its main EU establishment in the country. It investigated complaints over how the company processes the drivers’ personal data. Complaints were submitted through a human rights organization, Ligue des droits de l’Homme (LDH), to France’s privacy watchdog and then passed to the AP.