Washington, D.C. — As corporations increasingly use personal data to customize prices and charge consumers the maximum amount they are able to pay, the American Economic Liberties Project and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) today hosted an event on the current state of “surveillance pricing,” and how lawmakers can protect their communities.

The event featured perspectives from both federal and state lawmakers who are in the process of taking action to rein in this burgeoning practice, including Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX-35), California State Assemblymember Chris Ward (District-78), whose bill passed through its final policy committee just yesterday.

“Using our private data in order to pay more for products and pay Americans less is deeply troubling,” said Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX-35). “Imagine a rideshare app paying drivers less because the app knows through an algorithm that your bank account is low. Imagine an airline jacking up your ticket price because it knows you Googled the words ‘funeral arrangements’ or ‘obituaries.’ That’s deeply wrong and I think we have to step out now to stop it before this practice further spreads.”

“I’m working with my colleagues over the next few days and weeks to come up with congressional solutions at the federal level.” added Rep. Casar.

“Companies are using what they know about you, where you shop how much you spend, even your location to decide how much to charge you — this isn’t just theoretical,” said California State Assemblymember Chris Ward, author of a pioneering bill to ban surveillance pricing in America’s most populous state. “We here in California are trying to model state language that hopefully will get sent to the governor and with his signature will become law that other states and ultimately the federal government can look at emulating. ”

“The ability to compare prices, to rely on consistent prices, and to know why a price is being charged—this is what gives us the power to know if we are getting a fair deal. Surveillance pricing destroys the social contract of the marketplace,” said Nidhi Hegde, Executive Director at the American Economic Liberties Project. “These tactics portend a future where consumers and workers cannot participate in open marketplaces, and are instead separated into individual silos, with no reference for how much something should cost. That loss of common reference not only allows corporations to maximally exploit our ‘pain points’; it shields corporations from scrutiny based on shared information.”

The event also featured a panel conversation with experts and advocates on how this practice harms consumers, workers, and market competition — touching on the evolution of pricing tactics throughout corporate America’s history, Delta Airline’s latest pricing announcement, New York’s new disclosure law on personalized data and prices, and much more.

“I can’t overstate how concerning Delta’s announcement is,” said Lindsey Owens, Executive Director of Groundwork Collaborative, in reference to the airline’s announcement last week that it will price 20% of its ticket inventory using AI by the end of the year. “The airline industry is the inventor, exporter, and popularizer of some of the worst pricing practices in our economy…I think we should expect other airlines follow suit, and if other airlines follow suit, I think it will only be a matter of time before this really becomes the standard fare for corporate America when it comes to pricing.”

“The quick triage option here is moving as fast as possible with bans,” Owens added later on in the event.

“When you apply [surveillance pricing] to food, you have a really stressful situation for consumers… We know [grocery stores have] a heat map they’re watching — where people spend time in the grocery store and how long, whether they pick up an item and then put it back” said Amber Parrish, Executive Director of UFCW Western States Council. “Discounts should be transparent, if there’s a sale it should be accessible to everyone…Pricing is a public promise, not a private secret that consumers don’t have access to.”

“People would prefer to navigate a marketplace that’s working fairly that have to sort through really detailed disclosures to figure out if they’re getting a fair price,” said Grace Gedye, AI Policy Analyst at Consumer Reports, speaking to a new New York state law that mandates disclosure of prices informed by personal data.

As detailed in reports from the Federal Trade Commission and Economic Liberties and partners, surveillance pricing and wage-setting has already become widespread across the economy. Uber has been caught charging users more for identical trips if their phone battery was low, and offering drivers different rates for the exact same rides.  Instacart has announced that it’s using new software to detect what it calls “consumer price sensitivity” on specific grocery items and to “optimize” grocery prices accordingly. Interim findings from the FTC’s large-scale study found evidence of surveillance-based pricing at grocery stores, apparel retailers, health and beauty retailers, home goods and furnishing stores, convenience stores, building and hardware stores, and general merchandise retailers such as department or discount stores

Three states—Colorado, California, and Illinois—have introduced pioneering bills to ban surveillance pricing and/or wage-setting tools in 2025.

Watch the full event, Surveillance Pricing: The Hidden Threat to Prices, Wages, and Economic Liberty, here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.