New York’s recent state budget adds disclosure rules for companies using personal data to charge varying prices to different customers — for instance, raising prices if you often splurge.
Companies using personalized pricing must now notify customers, “This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data,” reports The New York Times.
It’s unclear how common this is among online retailers. An Uber spokesperson told the NYT they’re now displaying this notice to New Yorkers, though they called the law “poorly drafted and ambiguous” and stressed Uber relies only on geography and demand for dynamic pricing.
The National Retail Federation sued to halt the law, but a federal judge let it proceed.
Lina Khan, ex-Federal Trade Commission chair and now co-chair of Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral transition team, told the NYT the law is an “absolutely vital” government tool, but added there’s a “ton more work to be done” on regulating it.