Uber receives "sky-high fine" for transferring EU driver information, responds that it will appeal
2024-08-27
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After receiving two fines in 2018 and 2023, Uber recently received another fine from the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA).
The Netherlands Data Protection Authority said on August 26 local time that the mobile travel service platform Uber had transferred the personal data of European drivers to US servers, which violated the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and failed to properly protect driver information. It will be fined 290 million euros (about 2.3 billion yuan).
The regulators said Uber transferred sensitive information such as drivers' identification documents, taxi licenses, payment details, photos and location data to the company's headquarters in the United States over a two-year period.
In response, Uber said the fine was unreasonable and would appeal. An Uber spokesperson said: "During the three-year period of great uncertainty between the EU and the US, Uber's cross-border data transfer process complied with GDPR regulations."
DPA chair Aleid Wolfsen said Uber had not met GDPR requirements to "ensure the level of protection of data transferred to the United States," noting that Uber had also failed to protect the data appropriately.
This is the third time that the DPA has issued a fine to Uber. In 2018 and 2023, Uber was fined 600,000 euros and 10 million euros by the DPA respectively.
Uber also continues to face challenges around the world.
In 2022, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) filed a lawsuit against Uber, seeking a total of $26 million in penalties. Uber admitted that it had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and made false or misleading statements in its Uber ride-sharing application.
In May 2022, Italian data protection agency Garante fined Uber 4.2 million euros for alleged violations of data processing regulations. Garante stated that they found that a subsidiary of Uber processed users' personal data without consent and without notifying the regulator, affecting approximately 57 million users worldwide.
In May this year, more than 10,000 London black cab drivers filed a lawsuit against Uber, claiming that in order to obtain a license to operate in the city, Uber deliberately misled Transport for London (TfL) about how the app worked. It is reported that the amount of the claim is at least 250 million pounds, and each taxi driver may receive 25,000 pounds. Uber responded that the above statement is unfounded.
On August 6, Uber announced its second quarter results for 2024. Uber's second quarter revenue increased by 16% to $10.7 billion, of which travel service revenue increased by 25% to $6.13 billion, higher than the expected $5.94 billion, mainly due to increased travel volume. In addition, delivery service revenue increased by 8% to $3.29 billion. Uber's net profit in the second quarter was $1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 158%.
In terms of business expansion, Uber stated in its financial report that its travel business continued to expand in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in the second quarter: through cooperation with FoTaxi and Webtaxi, UberX was launched in Hungary and Luxembourg respectively. In addition, UberXShare and Trains were launched in Spain, and UberXShare was launched in the Netherlands.
(This article comes from China Business Network)
