Seattle’s City Council has voted to outlaw surveillance pricing on groceries, a move that makes Seattle the first city in the country to prohibit the practice. The Fair Pricing and Transparency Act (CB 121267) was approved today and is headed to Mayor Wilson for her signature.
The legislation aims at a straightforward principle: no one should be charged a higher price for necessities because a data broker has tracked what they search for online, where they travel, or how much money they make. It bars the use of a person’s personal information to adjust what they see when shopping for groceries and other essentials. The prohibition covers web-browsing records, real-time location, guesses about income, family size, health status, and additional factors.
What Surveillance Pricing Does
In May 2025, Consumer Reports examined how Kroger handles customer information and discovered that the company amasses extensive personal records for individual shoppers, including estimates of their income, family size, education level, gender, and other details. A single customer who asked to see their own data under a state privacy law was handed a 62-page record of their profile.
In December 2025, Consumer Reports, Groundwork Collaborative, and More Perfect Union published an investigation into Instacart’s pricing tactics. Nearly 400 consumers shopped for the same basket of goods at the same time, and analysis found that consumers were quoted different prices for the same products from the same store at the same time.
A probe discovered that Instacart’s algorithmic pricing trials could lead to price discrepancies as great as 23% for select items, and could cost households over $1,200 annually at the register. Shortly after, the company declared in a blog post that it would shut down the initiative responsible for showing different prices to different shoppers for groceries on its service.
The Bill’s Scope
The measure bars the use of a customer’s personal data to alter the price they see on groceries and other necessities. At the same time, it allows a wide range of discounting methods, while demanding more openness about discounts and setting certain limits on how customers may be profiled.
Consumer Reports’ senior policy analyst Grace Gedye welcomed Seattle’s move to shield shoppers from pricing tactics that vary depending on who a person is. She said: “Nobody should pay more for basic necessities because a data broker is quietly collecting information about what they’re searching for online, what they hover over, what their income is, or where they go. The price you see shouldn’t be different based on who you are.” Gedye praised Mayor Wilson and the City Council, saying they have made Seattle a leader on guarding shoppers against unfair grocery pricing tactics with this bill.
Other States Have Moved
Three states — Maryland, Connecticut, and New Jersey — have now signed bills into law to end surveillance pricing. Seattle’s action marks the first such step at the city level.
| Action | Timeline |
|---|---|
| Kroger investigation | May 2025 |
| Instacart investigation | December 2025 |
| Instacart ends program | Shortly after |
| Seattle City Council vote | Today |
The Pending Signature
The mayor has the deciding vote on the bill, and if she gives it her signature, Seattle will become the first city in the country to ban surveillance pricing.
The Investigation Evidence
A real abuse is targeted here: paying different prices for the same groceries based on your data. And Seattle has become the first city to outlaw it outright. The investigations from Consumer Reports supply strong evidence that the practice exists and costs real money.
Source material: “Seattle City Council votes to ban surveillance pricing in sale of groceries,” consumerreports.org.
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