FTC Proposes Personalized Pricing Disclosure Rule

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, proposed a new policy that could subject companies to federal charges if they secretly vary prices for individual customers based on personal data without clear disclosure. The move targets the practice of "personalized pricing," where businesses use consumer information to estimate and charge what they believe each person is willing to pay.

Under the proposed policy, businesses engaging in personalized pricing would be required to clearly and conspicuously disclose the practice to consumers. This includes revealing that a price is personalized, the general basis for the personalization, and the types of data used to set it. The FTC stated that failure to make such disclosures likely constitutes an unfair or deceptive act under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which the agency enforces.

"When consumers see a listed price, they expect it to be the same price that everyone else sees, not the retailer's estimate of how much they are willing to pay based on their personal data," FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement. He added that businesses that do not inform consumers how their personal data determines a price may be...