NYC Council Bans Surveillance Pricing; Mamdani Celebrates

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Ever feel like the price changed because the app knew it was you? New York City says that is over. The City Council on Thursday, Nov. 12, passed a ban on “surveillance pricing,” and Mayor Zohran Mamdani celebrated on X with a joke about incognito mode that racked up more than a million views.

The featured image shows Council Speaker Julie Menin, left, in 2023 and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, right, in July 2026.

The Lowdown

This is the rare tech-policy fight that everyone understands instantly: two people, same product, different price, because an algorithm read your data. The Council says the practice is invisible and predatory. Uber says the ban could hurt small-restaurant discounts. Now the city will find out who is right.

Key Takeaways

The City Council passed Intro. 891-A, sponsored by Speaker Julie Menin, on Thursday, Nov. 12.
It bans pricing set wholly or partly by an algorithm that uses personal data to charge different customers different prices for the same goods or services.
The city could fine businesses up to $1,000 per violating transaction, Gothamist reported.
Mamdani supports the ban; Uber warned it could make discounts harder for small restaurants.

Some companies use your personal data, like browsing history, to serve different prices to different costumers. It’s called surveillance pricing, and we just banned it in New York City.

This tweet will say the same thing in incognito mode, don’t worry.
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) November 12, 2026

The Full Story

What the Bill Does

Intro. 891-A, the Council said in its announcement, prohibits any business or service provider from “engaging in surveillance pricing,” defined as pricing “set completely or in part by algorithm that uses personal data to offer different prices to different customers for the same goods or services.” It covers online and in-store sales, Gothamist reported.

“When corporations use algorithms and personal data to charge different people different prices for the same products, it’s unethical and worsens our affordability crisis,” Menin said.

The Council pointed to investigations it said showed the practice in action: a grocery delivery platform’s pricing experiments that produced individualized differences as high as 23%, and a TV that jumped from $499.99 to $599.99 on a retailer’s app when the shopper pulled into the store parking lot.

Who’s Cheering, Who’s Not

“New Yorkers’ personal data should never be used as a weapon against their own pocketbooks,” Mamdani said in a statement, calling surveillance pricing “just another way corporations are finding to squeeze working people,” per Gothamist. The bill now heads to the mayor, who backs it.

Business groups are less thrilled. “If enacted, this law will make it harder for small restaurants with limited marketing budgets to reach customers,” Uber spokesperson Josh Gold told Gothamist. Menin said the law would not affect discounts.

The city bill follows a state law Albany passed in June that bars surveillance pricing with some exceptions. For more on tech and the money in your pocket, see our Tech & AI page.