The Federal Trade Commission on October 28 ordered nine airline, ride-hailing, delivery and retail companies to explain whether they use personal data to set what consumers pay and what gig workers earn. Unlike the agency's 2024 study, which went to pricing intermediaries, the orders go to the consumer-facing companies themselves, and each must name any outside supplier of the pricing tools, inputs and personal data it reports.
The orders, issued under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act and approved 2-0, went to Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAL), JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU), Lyft (Nasdaq: LYFT), Uber (NYSE: UBER), DoorDash (Nasdaq: DASH), Instacart (Nasdaq: CART), Target (NYSE: TGT) and Walmart (Nasdaq: WMT). Each has 45 days from receipt to respond. DoorDash signed an agreement the same day to acquire Instacart.
What the orders ask for
The order covers January 1, 2023, onward. Among its requests:
Every "Methodology" that uses personal information to set prices, decide which workers are offered which jobs, or set workers' pay, with each tool "(including SI or software)," input and step
For each tool, input and type of personal information, the name of "any third party from whom the Company obtained" it, and whether the company licenses or sells it to others
Every analysis, study or A/B test of those practices since January 1, 2021, and the role of any outside firm in it
The exact wording, location and dates of what the company has told consumers and workers
The documents that came with third-party data, including "the documentation of the methodology used to develop" it
How far the definitions reach
A Methodology is "any formula, algorithm, code, model, statistical or machine-learning technique, or other set of rules" that sets a price, a job offer or pay, whether "employed manually, using software, including SI, or by other means." Pricing includes coupons, discounts and promotions, and the release names participation in loyalty programs as one factor the FTC will examine.
SI is short for "Super Intelligence." The order defines it in the words the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 uses for artificial intelligence, adding only "technology or": "a machine-based technology or system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or virtual environments."
Workers include independent contractors and gig workers, but not employees on a fixed salary or on hourly pay with a fixed schedule.
The 2024 study went to the intermediaries
The new orders carry matter number P246202, the same as the FTC's July 2024 orders to eight companies it said offered "surveillance pricing products and services": Mastercard, Revionics, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase, Task Software, PROS, Accenture and McKinsey & Co. The vote was 5-0 under Chair Lina M. Khan. Andrew N. Ferguson, then a commissioner and now chairman, concurred: "There is no time to delay a study on personalized pricing."
On January 17, 2025, the commission voted 3-2 to release staff research summaries drawn from six of the eight firms' documents. Staff found the intermediaries worked with at least 250 clients. Ferguson and Commissioner Melissa Holyoak dissented; Ferguson wrote that the commission should "issue a final, fact-based report."
The October 28 release says that study examined only "middlemen consultancies," and adds: "The agency learned nothing about actual pricing decisions from the 2024 study."
The line the FTC has drawn so far
In August the commission voted 2-0 to seek comment on a proposed enforcement policy statement. Where consumers reasonably expect prices not to vary with their personal data, it says, businesses that personalize prices "should clearly and conspicuously disclose not just that the price is personalized, but also the basis for that personalization and the types of data on which the personalization is based." Not doing so is likely unfair or deceptive under Section 5, it says. Businesses that "collect, use, or disclose" personal data for personalized pricing without adequate disclosures or consent "may violate Section 5."
Ferguson framed the new inquiry around the same right to know:
Consumers deserve to know whether companies use their web surfing habits or other personal data to estimate the highest price they can charge each consumer.Andrew N. Ferguson, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, October 28, 2026
In August he said the FTC "does not have the legal authority to ban personalized pricing in all circumstances."
What the companies say
Delta said in a statement reported by the Associated Press: "There is no fare product Delta has ever used, is testing or plans to use that targets customers with individualized offers based on personal data." JetBlue said it does not use personal information or web-browsing history to set individual prices, AP reported. Instacart said it does not use consumers' personal information to set prices and pays its shoppers solely on job-related criteria such as distance, item count and expected shopping time, according to AP.
Walmart and Target spoke before the orders. Walmart CEO John Furner wrote in a September 25 letter: "We price the product, not the person." Target's October 15 fact sheet says it "does not use personal information to raise prices for guests based on who they are, where they live or when they shop."
What happens next
The orders are dated October 28 and went out by FedEx, the cover letter shows. Each company must contact FTC staff within 14 days of receipt to schedule a meeting on its response, and file a sworn report within 45 days. The earliest those deadlines can fall is November 11 and December 12. A company that does not comply can be taken to federal court, the release says.
The answers go to the FTC, not the public. Confidential information "will be reported only on an aggregate or anonymous basis," the cover letter says, and submissions marked confidential will not be disclosed without ten days' notice. The release sets no date for results.
