The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated an investigation into several major corporations regarding their use of customer data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence to adjust pricing based on individual consumer characteristics.
On Tuesday, the FTC sent inquiries to eight companies, including Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, Accenture, Task Software, McKinsey & Co., Revionics, Bloomreach, and Pros. The agency is seeking details on how these pricing strategies affect privacy, competition, and consumer protection.
These companies deploy data tools, often referred to as “surveillance pricing” or “dynamic pricing,” which allows them to present differing prices for the same products to various consumers based on factors such as location, demographics, credit history, and past shopping behaviors.
Many of the firms targeted by the FTC provide transaction, sales, and pricing services to some of the leading companies both in the U.S. and internationally. Task Software manages transactions for major hospitality brands, including McDonald’s and Starbucks, while Revionics specializes in retail price optimization software and serves clients like Home Depot. Pros, a software provider known for AI-driven pricing solutions, lists Nestlé, HP, and United Airlines among its customers, and collaborates with Microsoft on technology development.
The FTC aims to clarify the workings of what it describes as an “opaque market” that groups shoppers and implements targeted pricing strategies.
“Firms that harvest Americans’ personal data can put people’s privacy at risk. Now firms could be exploiting this vast trove of personal information to charge people higher prices,” stated FTC Chair Lina Khan. “Americans deserve to know whether businesses are using detailed consumer data to deploy surveillance pricing, and the FTC’s inquiry will shed light on this shadowy ecosystem of pricing middlemen.”
The FTC is specifically looking for information regarding the types of surveillance pricing products offered by these companies, their data collection methods, customer and sales details, and how these practices impact the pricing that customers ultimately face.