Two House bills seeking to crack down on a new form of price gouging that leverages consumers’ personal data to set prices will advance to the state Senate after passing overwhelmingly in the House.
Referred to as “surveillance pricing” by the Federal Trade Commission, the practice is now widely used by e-commerce sellers to target individuals with different prices based on their precise location and/or browsing history.
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“Companies shouldn’t be able to use our personal data to quietly charge one customer more than another for the exact same product,” said state Rep. Rylee Linting (R-Wyandotte), one of the legislation’s co-sponsors. “That’s not a free market. That’s surveillance pricing, and these bills put a stop to it.”
An FTC market study into surveillance pricing launched in July 2024 revealed a variety of tactics used by companies to track consumer behaviors, ranging from mouse movements on a webpage to products left unpurchased in an online shopping cart.
“The FTC should continue to investigate surveillance pricing practices because Americans deserve to know how their private data is being used to set the prices they pay and whether firms are charging different people different prices for the same good or service,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in a 2025 news release.
Though the bills introduced in the House were both sponsored by Republican members, concerns surrounding surveillance pricing have drawn attention from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Michigan.
State Sens. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) and John Cherry (D-Flint) introduced a bill in May to ban surveillance pricing for e-commerce sellers.
The Senate Bill would also ban what’s known as dynamic pricing, which occurs when companies adjust prices of consumer goods in response to real-time factors like the time of day, day of the week, or even the current weather or temperature.
“Between the price of gas and rising utility bills, Michiganders are already having a hard time staying afloat, and companies’ exploitative pricing tactics are only making it worse,” Cherry said after the bill’s introduction. “People shouldn’t be charged more for shopping in a certain zip code or just because they’re picking up a few groceries on their way home from work after the 5 o’clock hour.”
The House Bills both passed on June 25 and were referred to the committee on Economic and Community Development for review before advancing to the Senate. SB 991 was also referred to committee.