@davidmoscrop.com:
Banning algorithmic pricing ought to be a no-brainer call for any government: people don’t like to be ripped off, surveilled, or treated differently from their peers.
Algorithm pricing does all three of those things.
@LeeHepner:
This is monumental. The first state bill of its kind to ban surveillance pricing, a pervasive threat to social cohesion, just overcame a huge hurdle.
Thank you to Rep @javier_mabrey for his dedication, passion, and expertise. Precedent-setting work.
I testified on this bill, alongside workers harmed by surveillance wage-setting, an algorithmic rat race to the bottom that forces them into a state of perpetual financial precarity. …
@Pat_Garofalo:
HUGE: A bill to ban surveillance price and wage setting just passed the Colorado House!
@VassB:
Holy sh*t. @WabKinew’s government just made using data to increase prices an unfair business practice. This is historic for Canada.
*Proposed bill bans suppliers from charging higher prices to certain consumers based on personalized or algorithmically determined information.
News Release – Manitoba
March 17, 2026
Manitoba Government Ending Predatory Pricing in Grocery Stores and Other Retail
– – –
Bill 49 Makes Using Data to Increase Prices an Unfair Business Practice: Sandhu
The Manitoba government has introduced an amendment to the Business Practices Act that would ban retailers from using consumers’ personal data to increase the price of goods for a specific consumer, Public Service Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu announced today.
“Protecting Manitobans from unfair pricing practices is essential to keeping life affordable,” said Sandhu. “These are first of their kind amendments and take aim at the misuse of personal data to inflate prices and ensure consumers are treated fairly whether they shop at the grocery store or other retailers. By strengthening these protections, the Manitoba government is reinforcing its broader commitment to lowering everyday costs for families.”
Whether in-store or online, the proposed bill would make it an unfair business practice for suppliers to charge higher prices to certain consumers based on personalized or algorithmically determined information.
The proposed amendment would also make clear that the Business Practices Act applies to online retailers and online distributors. By adding the use of personal data to increase prices as an unfair business practice, the proposed bill responds to concerns that companies may be using a consumer’s data to charge them more for goods, including groceries.
Bill 49 aligns with the Manitoba government’s commitment to lowering grocery prices for Manitobans including other actions such as:
- removing property controls on grocery store locations;
- freezing the price of milk;
- freezing hydro rates;
- cutting the gas tax permanently;
- ensuring every student gets a meal; and
- increasing the property tax credit and the pre-natal benefit to ensure families have more money for groceries.
– 30 –
For more information:
- Public information, contact Manitoba Government Inquiry: email hidden; JavaScript is required or 1-866-626-4862 or 204-945-3744.
- Media requests for general information, contact Communications and Engagement: email hidden; JavaScript is required.
- Media requests for ministerial comment, contact Cabinet Communications: email hidden; JavaScript is required.
***
Meanwhile:
Walmart is rolling out digital price tags at all of its stores. At the same time, the corporate giant just secured a patent for “dynamically and automatically updating item prices.” Plus another patent for using machine learning to predict demand and recommend prices.
“The two patents are among almost 50 that Walmart has secured from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since January, according to the FT report.”
CouponPicked:
Amazon already does this — they change prices on popular items 3-7 times per day. Most people just can’t see it because there’s no physical tag to swap. At least with Walmart you’ll be able to watch the price change in real time while you’re standing in the aisle.
Hannibal9972485:
@MorePerfectUS
it’s a Individualized Price Discrimination system!!. Walmart wants to stop selling goods at a set price and start selling them at the exact highest price you will accept right now. And they’re using (AI) machine learning model which once is fully trained on millions of live transactions with real-time feedback, it becomes a weapon of financial warfare against the consumer. They are creating a system where prices are not based on cost + markup, but on”value extraction.” This is the shift from retail to gambling, where the house (Walmart) always adjusts the odds (price) to ensure it wins.
This is the same SYSTEM taxis and airlines use as a blueprint. Walmart is applying this model to groceries. The training data confirms that “dynamic pricing” is a euphemism for “charging more when people are desperate.” They are applying the logic of selling a last-minute flight ticket to selling a loaf of bread.
Walmart is banking on the fact that you are already used to prices changing constantly. They are using the confusion of the current economy to hide a permanent structural change.
By removing the paper tags, they remove the evidence.
You cannot prove the price was different ten minutes ago allows Walmart to conduct thousands of price experiments per day without anyone noticing. They are testing price elasticity in real-time. If people keep buying at a higher price, the screen stays high. If sales stop, the screen drops. This is the removal of the “social contract” of fixed pricing, replaced by a ruthless, silent bidding war for your wallet.
hidden truth is that fixed prices were an invention of the industrial age to simplify logistics, not a natural law of commerce. Before printed price tags, every price was negotiated. Walmart is using technology to return to that era of negotiation, but they are removing the human element so you have no one to negotiate with. The system is designed to create a “closed loop” of profit where the margin is constantly optimized against the consumer’s psychological limit.
What’s worse I found they’re using your “PASSPORT and ID” for some reason…. system they’re designed to identify who you are before it designing is a plan to link your physical presence to your digital purchase history. The machine learning component predicts NOT how much bread to stock; it is there to predict how much money you have left and how much you need that specific item right now. They want to calculate your personal breaking point and charge you exactly that, every single time.
@lukOlejnik:
Walmart has filed a patent for systems that use AI to predict demand and automatically adjust prices. It is installing electronic shelf labels across all US stores. Labels can be remotely updated automatically. The patent that “helps merchants make decisions” is a machine that makes the decision and hands a merchant the paperwork?
Okay, this is serious ;-) Not only a display but data acquisition potential!
profdiggity:
I’ve got video too. Will post later. I couldn’t get anyone to care a few months ago but this patent makes it obvious surveillance pricing / price discrimination is the goal here. So, more of a case to be made now.
@ErgosphereSols:
This is a significant development @lukOlejnik, AI-powered dynamic pricing at retail scale raises important questions about transparency and fairness.
osintgangster:
Customer: “wrong price, it was labeled $5.99”, Checkout Employee: “not anymore, new price is $7.99”
@maxbar1986:
When they get hacked and everything is sold for 99 cents will be hillarious
@jorleigh1:
And people will boycott them. Just like they did when Kroger tried it because you know what company won’t do this crap? Costco and most people shopping at Walmart have families a Costco membership costs a hundred bucks a year. Hell Aldi has better prices and better quality
@Mel_NeverTrump:
@Walmart =I will never shop at your store again. Don’t take this lightly, I can and will cancel you without a backwards look if you continue with this. Drop it and apologize now
wdaisyrose:
Places for people to avoid shopping at.
If people go somewhere because it’s lower cost and this removes that incentive, people will find some place else.
@EverProactive:
So in theory, if someone put 10 cans of 79¢ beans in their shopping cart the Ai would see a 10 can reduction in stock and that would trigger a 10¢ price increase that would take effect before they got to the checkout counter. And the shelf price would also reflect a price of 89¢.
@sydneyj138:
If we place our cell phones in some kind of Faraday wallet before we enter a store’s parking lot, does that change anything?
I don’t go anywhere with a phone. Who wants to go shopping and be spied on or get phone calls? Not me. I will not shop where I cannot see a physical price. which is the same for all shoppers.