FTC Seeks Data on Surveillance Pricing From Nine Companies
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission asked nine companies to disclose how they use consumer and worker data to set prices and compensation, including any analysis framed as “super intelligence.” Recipients include Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, JetBlue, Lyft, Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, Target and Walmart, and each has 45 days to respond. Delta, JetBlue and Instacart denied using personal data for individualized pricing, while the inquiry does not establish wrongdoing.
The request puts opaque pricing and algorithmic compensation practices across airlines, platforms and retailers under federal scrutiny, although the FTC cannot regulate or penalize the airline industry and companies have not yet produced their responses.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission sent a letter to nine different companies on Wednesday demanding documents related to surveillance pricing, the practice of setting an individualized price for a given customer based on their data.
The companies include Delta, United, JetBlue, Lyft, Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, Target, and Walmart, all of which have been mentioned in news reports in recent years for potentially engaging in some form of surveillance pricing. However, most of the companies have denied the practice, and those caught doing it have insisted it was merely part of a pricing experiment.
The FTC’s document request says that each company has 45 days to respond, and it will probe not just how consumers are impacted but how workers are paid. Activists frequently note that gig workers can get screwed when companies use technological tricks to see how little money workers will accept.
“We intend to scrutinize the opaque methodology that some companies in these industries may be using to determine how much consumers pay or how much gig workers are paid for the same product or service,” FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson said in a press release.
#U.S. Federal Trade Commission#Delta Air Lines#United Airlines#JetBlue#Lyft#Uber#DoorDash#Instacart#Target#Walmart