Uber Fined IDR 5 Trillion In The Netherlands For Sending Driver's Personal Data To The US

Uber was fined 290 million euros (around IDR 5 trillion) in the Netherlands (photo: x @uber)

JAKARTA - Uber's ride-hailing platform was fined 290 million euros (approximately IDR 5 trillion) in the Netherlands for sending European taxi driver personal data to the United States. This violates European Union (EU) regulations, as announced by Dutch data protection supervisory authority, DPA, on Monday, August 16.

"This flawed decision and extraordinary fine is completely unfair," Uber spokesman Caspar Nixon said in an email to Reuters.

Nixon explained that the Uber cross-border data transfer process was in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for three years of a period of major uncertainty between the EU and the US, adding that the company would appeal and confident that "healthy people will win."

The DPA stated that Uber sent personal data to the United States without protecting the data properly, which they said was a serious violation of the GDPR.

Uber can appeal this decision with the DPA, and if it doesn't work, they can take the case to a Dutch court. The appeal process is expected to take about four years and the fine is suspended until all legal remedies are completed, according to the DPA.

The investigation was sparked by complaints filed by French human rights organizations on behalf of more than 170 taxi drivers in France to the country's data protection authorities. However, as Uber has a headquarters in Europe located in the Netherlands, the case is forwarded to the DPA.

France's national data protection regulator, CNIL, said in a separate statement that it had cooperated with the DPA in this case.

In another related case, the DPA fined Uber 10 million euros (IDR 169.9 billion) in January for a violation of privacy regulations related to their driver's personal data.