Washington Post Faces Class Action Over Surveillance Pricing

A class action lawsuit filed on Thursday in Washington, D.C., accuses The Washington Post of secretly harvesting subscribers' personal data for years and using it to set individualized subscription prices, a practice known as surveillance pricing. The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, alleges the newspaper engaged in deceptive and unfair consumer practices.

The complaint, filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on behalf of lead plaintiff Chelsea Blink and millions of current and former subscribers, claims the Post covertly collected and analyzed deeply personal information from users' devices since at least the mid-2010s. This data, which allegedly included demographics, browsing habits, and content engagement, was then fed into an algorithmic system designed to determine the maximum price each subscriber would pay.

According to the lawsuit, subscribers were unaware of this practice until March of this year, when some began receiving notices that their subscription prices were increasing. The bottom of these emails stated, "This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data." The filing contends this disclosure only occurred because of a New...