Ride-hailing firm Uber has received a €290m (£245m) fine for improperly transferring the personal data of European taxi drivers to the US.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) said the firm had failed to appropriately safeguard the data of the drivers, which constitutes “a serious violation” of the EU’s GDPR rules. Uber has already ended its violation of the rules.

The sizeable fine is based on GDPR rules that allow for fines of up to 4% of global annual turnover to be levied for non-compliance. With Uber making around €34.5bn last year, the level of sanction is well below the possible maximum limit. However, the firm only achieved profitability last year for the first time since it became a public company in 2019, making around $1.1bn.

Dutch DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen said: “In Europe, the GDPR protects the fundamental rights of people by requiring businesses and governments to handle personal data with due care. But sadly this is not self-evident outside Europe.

“Think of governments...