JPMorgan, Mastercard, Accenture get order from FTC on surveillance pricing

The Federal Trade Commission sent orders to eight companies, including the U.S.’s largest bank by assets and one of the two largest card payment networks, seeking information about how their use of consumer data affects privacy, competition, and consumer protection, the agency said on Tuesday.

The FTC sent the orders to Mastercard (NYSE:MA), Revionics, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Task Software, PROS, Accenture (NYSE:ACN), and McKinsey & Co.

“The orders are aimed at helping the FTC better understand the opaque market for products by third-party intermediaries that claim to use advanced algorithms, artificial intelligence and other technologies, along with personal information about consumers — such as their location, demographics, credit history, and browsing or shopping history — to categorize individuals and set a targeted price for a product or service,” the FTC said in a statement.

It wants to get a better grasp of how surveillance pricing is affecting consumers, especially when the pricing is based on tracking an individual’s personal characteristics and behavior.

“Firms that harvest Americans’ personal data can put people’s privacy at risk. Now, firms could be exploiting this vast trove of personal information to charge people higher prices,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan.

The agency said it’s using its 6(b) authority, which allows the commission to conduct wide-ranging studies that don’t have a specific law enforcement purpose to obtain information from the eight firms that advertise their use of AI and other technologies to target prices for individual consumers.

In Tuesday morning trading, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) stock rose 0.1%, Mastercard (MA) fell 0.6%, and Accenture (ACN) slipped 0.4%.