Food delivery company Foodinho was fined EUR 2.6m (USD 3m) for breaching privacy and labour laws in Italy, and ordered to update its management algorithms.

Italian privacy watchdog Garante ruled that the Glovo-owned gig worker management company had tracked its workers' locations out of office hours, and had shared it, along with other personal data, with undisclosed third parties not mentioned in the app’s documentation.

It also said that Foodinho had not adequately explained its automated order management system properly to its workers, and had failed to ensure that the results of automatic processes to evaluate the workers' performance were correct.

In addition, the regulator said that Foodinho had failed to provide workers with ways to challenge decisions made using its management algorithm, including the exclusion of some riders from taking orders, and raised concerns about potential discrimination arising from it. 

Foodinho was ordered to make a raft of changes to its privacy practices and to amend how its management algorithms work.

Regulation ⚖️

• EU General Data Protection Regulation

Legal, regulatory 👩🏼‍⚖️

• Garante (2021). Riders: Italian SA says no to algorithms causing discrimination. A platform in the Glovo group fined EUR 2.6 million

• Garante (2021). Abstract of Italian SA’s order as issued against Foodinho S.r.l.

Research, advocacy 🧮

• European Trade Union Institute (2023). Exercising workers’ rights in algorithmic management systems

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://www.reuters.com/technology/italian-watchdog-takes-aim-delivery-firms-gig-worker-algorithms-2021-07-05/

• https://www.reuters.com/article/italy-tech-algorithm/spains-glovo-considers-appeal-after-italian-regulator-finds-foodinho-labour-breaches-idUSL5N2OJ227

• https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/06/italys-dpa-fines-glovo-owned-foodinho-3m-orders-changes-to-algorithmic-management-of-riders/

• https://www.pymnts.com/news/regulation/2021/italian-data-protection-watchdog-fines-foodinho-over-gig-algorithms/

• https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/glovo-italy-fine-algorithms

• https://www.complianceweek.com/regulatory-enforcement/italian-dpa-cites-biased-tech-in-31m-gdpr-fine/30557.article