Bills would ban grocery price increases within 24-hour period and prohibit businesses from using consumers’ personal data to set individual prices
NEW YORK, NY – Today, the New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Majority Leader Shaun Abreu will introduce two consumer protection bills aimed at restricting practices driven by emerging technology and data collection known as dynamic and surveillance pricing. The legislation would establish guardrails around dynamic pricing in grocery stores and a prohibition on businesses using consumer personal data to set individual prices, making New York the first city in the nation with such protections.
As digital price tags and algorithmic pricing systems become more common, consumers and industry experts have raised concerns around dynamic pricing, the practice of frequent price changes based on demand or market conditions, and surveillance pricing, a practice of using personal data collected about consumers to tailor prices to individuals.
The Council’s legislation takes a proactive approach to establishing protections before the practices become widespread, while still allowing businesses flexibility to respond to legitimate market forces and operational costs.
“New Yorkers deserve transparency and fairness when purchasing essential goods, and the Council will make New York the first city in the country to take a strong stand against predatory surveillance and exploitative dynamic pricing practices,” said Speaker Julie Menin. “As a regulatory attorney and the former Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs, I take consumer protection extremely seriously. These bills establish clear, commonsense guardrails to ensure companies cannot use personal data to manipulate prices or undermine public trust. At a time of rising costs and deep affordability challenges, we need to pursue every solution to protect consumers and keep prices fair.”
“Corporations have algorithms and AI. Shoppers have a cart and a budget,” said Majority Leader Shaun Abreu. “We are acting now to protect New Yorkers before the technology gets ahead of the law. By regulating dynamic pricing in grocery stores we’re ensuring that a basic need isn’t used as leverage against the people who can least afford it. Groceries are already expensive enough, and nobody should have to worry about the price going up when they’re still shopping.”
The first bill, sponsored by Speaker Menin, would prohibit businesses from engaging in surveillance pricing by banning the use of personal data — collected through technology like device tracking, internet browsing history, biometric monitoring, or purchase history — to set individual fee, prices, and discounts for consumers. The legislation excludes loyalty and rewards programs, publicly disclosed discounts, and pricing differences tied to the cost of providing goods or services. The second bill, sponsored by Majority Leader Abreu, would prohibit grocery stores from increasing the price of an item more than once within a 24-hour period. This would allow businesses to make daily adjustments based on market forces, without making more frequent price adjustments that artificially inflate the cost of essential goods.
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