Economic Liberties Unveils New Focus Group Research Showing Voters Overwhelmingly Oppose “Surveillance Pricing”

May 12, 2026 Press Release

Findings show immediate backlash and strong support for regulations as states begin to act.

Washington D.C. — New focus group research conducted by Lake Research Partners for the American Economic Liberties Project finds that Americans overwhelmingly oppose “surveillance pricing,” the practice of using personal data to set individualized prices, once they understand how it works. 

Participants, who hailed from key 2026 battleground Congressional districts, began with little awareness of the term, but after a brief explanation vocalized immediate opposition. Participants described the practice as “discriminatory,” “manipulative,” and “unfair,” and rejected the idea that companies should charge different prices based on who someone is or what companies know about them. Participants tied the practice directly to rising costs, stagnant wages, and growing corporate power. Many assumed some version of the practice is already happening, even if they hadn’t heard of it.

Key findings include:

  • Near-zero awareness quickly turned to near-universal opposition: Participants entered with little familiarity of surveillance pricing but quickly moved to strong opposition once the practice was explained.
  • Discrimination is the breaking point: Charging different prices based on surveillance data was seen as fundamentally unacceptable.
  • “The price should be the price”: Participants expect transparent, uniform pricing and reject individualized pricing.
  • Broad support for a ban: Most participants supported making surveillance pricing illegal, with a preference for federal action.
  • Connection to larger issues: Participants connected the use of AI-powered pricing algorithms to broader worries about artificial intelligence and tech encroachment on their privacy and communities.

“Surveillance pricing doesn’t just charge some people more than others, it destroys the very idea of a price,” said Pat Garofalo, Director of State and Local Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “When every person sees a different number, and when those numbers shift minute to minute based on data people didn’t even know was being collected, a price tag becomes meaningless. Every day our country’s lawmakers put off passing meaningful “surveillance pricing” legislation, hardworking Americans are getting overcharged based on data they never agreed to share.”

As companies expand the use of AI and data analytics in pricing across sectors including travel, retail, and groceries, the gap between what corporations can do and what the law allows continues to widen, with broad support for government stepping in to ban or regulate these practices.

Find the full research memo here.

To learn more about surveillance pricing, the new research, or to connect for interview, please contact: Allie Gross at agross@economicliberties.us or text 310-498-1032 

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.