Pallone Continues Inquiry into Surveillance Pricing Practices, Demanding Answers from Rideshare, Ticketing, Travel Booking, and Food Delivery Industries

Washington, D.C. – Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) expanded his inquiry into corporate surveillance pricing by demanding answers from rideshare, ticketing, travel booking, and food delivery industries, which provide goods and services to tens of millions of Americans every day.

“Americans are struggling to make ends meet and to afford basic necessities, and now they have to worry their personal data may be used to charge them higher prices,” Pallone wrote in his letter to companies. “I am very concerned about companies potentially using Americans’ personal data to determine what prices they see and pay, and that is why I began an inquiry earlier this year into just how widespread this practice is.We need answers because consumers deserve to know if businesses are using their personal information to manipulate the prices they pay or experiment with algorithms to set the prices they see.”

In May, Pallone launched an inquiry into surveillance pricing with letters to 25 major corporations and then in July, he expanded the inquiry with letters to eight major airlines.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has defined surveillance pricing as a form of dynamic pricing where a company uses “advanced algorithms, artificial intelligence and other technologies, along with personal information about consumers—such as their location, demographics, credit history, and browsing or shopping history—to categorize individuals and set a targeted price for a product or service.”

The rideshare, ticketing, travel booking, and food delivery industries have faced troubling allegations of surveillance pricing.

• Investigationshave found that major rideshare companies provided different fares for the same ride ordered at the same time, suggesting that information about users may have been used to determine prices.
• An investigationfound a leading ticket distributor charged customers different prices for the exact same tickets ordered at the same time, with the variation in rates seemingly based on location, account sign-in status, and whether customers used their desktop or mobile phone to order tickets. 
• A reportconcluded that popular third-party booking websites displayed different prices based on a customer’s geographic region, finding that retailers would “hike” hotel rates on the assumption that customers from more affluent areas had a higher willingness to pay. 
• Some cities are banning food delivery services from using personal data to set prices for individual shoppers.

“Today’s letters are the third set we’ve sent across industries as we work to fully understand the scope of surveillance pricing and what needs to be done to address it,” Pallone said of the ongoing inquiry.

Ranking Member Pallone wrote to the following companies requesting answers by November 5:

• Booking Holdings Inc.
• DoorDash, Inc.
• Expedia Group, Inc. 
• Grubhub Holdings Inc.
• Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.
• Lyft, Inc.
• Maplebear Inc. d/b/a Instacart
• SeatGeek, Inc.
• StubHub Holdings, Inc.
• Uber Technologies, Inc. 

Full text of the letter is available HERE.

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