Garante per la protezione dei dati personali — Foodinho S.r.l. (Glovo)
The Garante fined Foodinho EUR 2.6 million for unlawful processing of rider data, finding it failed to ensure the accuracy and fairness of the algorithms rating riders and assigning orders, with no safeguards against discriminatory automated decisions.
Key takeaway — how to prevent this
Audit AI hiring and HR tools for disparate impact; algorithmic screening that filters by age or other protected traits is unlawful.
Case brief
Read from the authority's press release on 2026-09-19. Every holding carries a short verbatim quote from that text (in IT, the document's language).
- Decided by
- Garante per la protezione dei dati personali
- Parties
- Garante per la protezione dei dati personali v. Foodinho S.r.l.
- Decision date
- June 10, 2021
- Remedy
- Foodinho S.r.l. was ordered to pay a fine of 2.6 million euros and implement corrective measures within 60 to 90 days to eliminate discriminatory algorithmic practices and protect riders' rights.
- Amount
- €2,600,000
- Appeal
- Appeal status not stated
Key holdings
The Garante fined Foodinho 2.6 million euros for severe data protection violations involving approximately 19,000 riders in Italy.
“La società dovrà anche pagare una sanzione di 2,6 milioni di euro.”
Foodinho failed to properly inform workers about how the algorithmic system operated and failed to guarantee accurate and fair algorithmic ratings.
“La società, ad esempio, non aveva adeguatamente informato i lavoratori sul funzionamento del sistema e non assicurava garanzie sull’esattezza e la correttezza dei risultati dei sistemi algoritmici”
The authority ordered Foodinho to establish safeguards protecting riders against automated profiling and decision-making.
“Il Garante ha pertanto prescritto alla società di individuare misure per tutelare i diritti e le libertà dei rider a fronte di decisioni automatizzate, compresa la profilazione.”
In plain English
The Italian Data Protection Authority, Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, imposed a fine of 2.6 million euros on Foodinho S.r.l., a subsidiary of GlovoApp23, following an investigation into data protection and algorithm management practices affecting food delivery riders. The inspection involved around 19,000 riders in Italy and included a joint European operation with the Spanish authority, AEPD. The Garante discovered several serious violations regarding the algorithmic systems used to handle employees and assign work. Foodinho failed to properly inform riders about how the algorithm operated, lacked safeguards to ensure the accuracy and fairness of rating results, and did not establish procedures allowing riders to obtain human intervention, express their point of view, or challenge automated decisions that could exclude them from work. Additionally, rating mechanisms mathematically penalized riders who did not accept orders within 30 seconds or failed to check in promptly, while tracking geolocation every 15 seconds. The authority ordered Foodinho to adopt protective measures against automated decisions and profiling, check data relevance and accuracy, and prevent discriminatory reputational feedback. Foodinho was given 60 days to begin implementation of corrective actions and 90 additional days to complete adjustments to its algorithms.
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