The Federal Trade Commission on October 28 ordered nine airlines, ride-sharing companies, food-delivery firms and retailers to hand over information on how they use personal data to set prices and worker pay.
The FTC release names the recipients as Delta, United, JetBlue, Lyft, Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, Target and Walmart. The orders were issued under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, which the release describes as authority to conduct wide-ranging studies that do not have a specific law enforcement purpose. The Commission voted 2-0 to approve them, and each recipient has 45 days from receipt to respond. If a company does not turn over the information, the Commission can compel compliance in federal court.
The orders ask each company to document the inputs, tools and procedures used to adjust or set prices and compensation. The release says the agency wants to assess whether the price of a ticket, ride share, food delivery or other product varies from one person to the next based on factors such as participation in loyalty programs or analysis of personal data by what it calls superintelligence algorithms. It also asks about driver and courier pay that may reflect personal data such as phone usage or acceptance history.
FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson said in the release that the agency intends to scrutinize methodology “that some companies in these industries may be using to determine how much consumers pay or how much gig workers are paid for the same product or service.” The release adds that in August the Commission invited public comment on a proposed enforcement policy statement on the undisclosed use of personal information to set a price unique to a consumer.
Why it matters for marketers
Loyalty programs and purchase history sit in marketing’s systems before they reach a pricing team. The FTC names loyalty participation as a factor it wants explained, so the segments, offers and audience files built from that data are now inside a federal information request for two retail media sellers among the recipients. The orders are a study, and the release does not allege wrongdoing by any recipient.
One practical step
Map which loyalty and purchase fields feed both audience targeting and any price or offer logic, and write down who owns each. Our opinion piece on loyalty vendor reporting covers the questions to put to a vendor on that data, and our report on Walmart’s agent profiles and terms shows another place where retailer data rules are being written down.
Source: Federal Trade Commission
