AMSTERDAM — A class action lawsuit has been filed against Uber at the Amsterdam district court alleging breaches of data protection laws and reduced earnings through an AI-powered pay-setting system. The claim involves approximately 241,000 drivers across the European Union and the United Kingdom.

The legal case is led by the campaign group Worker Info Exchange. Anton Ekker, a Dutch lawyer, is leading the legal case on behalf of the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit alleges that the company unlawfully used automated decision-making, including profiling, to dynamically set pay and allocate work. The filing also claims it unlawfully used driver data to train its AI models.

Drivers from the UK, the Netherlands, and other countries have joined the compensation claim. Mohammed Shirwa, a 41-year-old Uber driver in Rotterdam, is a claimant in the lawsuit.

Kola Oba, a 48-year-old Uber driver from Tottenham, north London, is a claimant in the lawsuit. Oba stated he was offered £23 for a job while another driver was offered £27 for the same job.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages for affected drivers and an injunction to halt the conduct alleged to breach GDPR data regulations. Drivers claim the dynamic pay system pushed down their annual incomes by about £5,000 in the UK.

Drivers claim the company has operated dynamic pay-setting in the UK since 2023. The dynamic pay system was introduced in the Netherlands this year.

The company stated it categorically rejected the allegations in the lawsuit. An Uber spokesperson addressed the claims in an official statement.

"While we haven’t seen the claim yet, we categorically reject the allegations," the Uber spokesperson said. The company denied using individual driver behavior to determine compensation.

It denied adjusting the price offered for a trip based on an individual driver’s behaviour. The company also stated that a history of accepting or rejecting trips was not used to personalise pay offers.

"The Uber app uses real-time information about the trip such as journey, duration and destination to calculate fares," the Uber spokesperson said. The statement emphasized transparency in the fare calculation process.

"Drivers see their earnings and where a trip is going before they decide whether to accept it," the Uber spokesperson added. "The vast majority of total fares continue to go where they belong: into drivers’ pockets, and the percentage that Uber keeps from fares has remained relatively flat," the spokesperson said.

James Farrar, founder of Worker Info Exchange, previously secured a UK Supreme Court ruling that Uber drivers should have worker rights. Farrar commented on the nature of the technology used by the ride-hailing platform.

"It’s bad enough that Uber’s dynamic pay algorithms have squeezed driver pay for years now but the intrusive and underhanded way in which Uber uses its technology to monitor and influence drivers’ behaviour is an affront to their dignity as workers and as human beings," James Farrar said.

The European Trade Union Confederation stated this is the first collective legal move of its kind. The filing comes during broader regulatory scrutiny of the company's operations in Europe.

The Dutch data protection authority fined Uber €825m last month for deactivating driver accounts through automated systems without adequate notice. The company stated it would appeal the €825m fine issued by the Dutch data protection authority.

In 2023, Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi made remarks regarding the potential for personalized trip targeting. "I think that what we can do better is targeting of different trips to different drivers based on their preferences or based on behavioural patterns that they’re showing us," Dara Khosrowshahi said in 2023.

Why It Matters

This legal action represents a significant challenge to the operational model of major gig economy platforms in Europe. By alleging violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the plaintiffs seek to establish that the use of artificial intelligence for pay setting and worker monitoring requires stricter regulatory oversight. The involvement of approximately 241,000 drivers across multiple jurisdictions shows the scale of the workforce potentially affected by these automated systems.

The case follows a recent €825m fine imposed by the Dutch data protection authority, indicating a pattern of regulatory enforcement regarding the company's use of automated decision-making. If the court grants the requested injunction, it could force changes to how dynamic pricing algorithms are implemented and how driver data is utilized for training AI models. The outcome may set a precedent for future collective legal actions concerning algorithmic management and data rights in the gig economy.

Timeline

In 2023, drivers claimed the company began operating dynamic pay-setting in the UK. During that same year, Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi stated, "I think that what we can do better is targeting of different trips to different drivers based on their preferences or based on behavioural patterns that they’re showing us."

In 2025, academics at the University of Oxford published a study finding substantial cuts in driver earnings after the introduction of the dynamic algorithm. Also in 2025, the dynamic pay system was introduced in the Netherlands.