Customers and gig workers of Delta, United, JetBlue, Lyft, Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, Target and Walmart were the subject of Federal Trade Commission study orders issued in October 2026 asking whether personal data shapes the prices consumers pay and the pay workers receive. The orders are a study, not an enforcement action, and there is no refund or claim.
Study Only · No Charges · Nothing to Claim
This article describes information requests the FTC issued for a study. The orders do not accuse any of the nine companies of breaking the law, and no company has been found to have done anything wrong. There is no settlement, refund or claim. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
What Happened?
On October 28, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission voted 2-0 to issue orders to nine companies requiring each to explain whether, and how, it uses personal data to set the prices it charges consumers and the pay it offers workers. The agency announced the orders in a press release titled “FTC Launches Personalized Pricing and Compensation Inquiry.”The nine companies are three airlines (Delta, United and JetBlue), two ride-hailing platforms (Lyft and Uber), two delivery platforms (DoorDash and Instacart) and two retailers (Target and Walmart). The FTC said it wants information that will let it assess whether pricing varies from one person to the next based on factors such as loyalty program participation or analysis of personal data. For ride-hailing and delivery platforms, the release says pay formulas may be based on drivers’ personal data, such as phone usage or their history of accepting past offers.
“Consumers deserve to know whether companies use their web surfing habits or other personal data to estimate the highest price they can charge each consumer,” FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson said in the release. “Workers also deserve to know if their compensation is affected by how companies use their personal data.”
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A Study, Not an Enforcement Action
The orders were issued under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act. In its release, the FTC describes that section as giving the Commission authority to conduct wide-ranging studies that do not have a specific law enforcement purpose. The orders ask questions; they do not charge any company with violating the law, and they do not lead to refunds. The release adds that if a company fails to provide the required information, the Commission can go to federal court to compel compliance.The agency framed this round as a correction to its earlier work. In July 2024 the FTC sent 6(b) orders on “surveillance pricing” to eight intermediary firms that sell pricing tools and services. The new release says that study examined only middlemen consultancies rather than the businesses that actually set prices. The new orders carry the same FTC matter number, P246202, as the 2024 study.
What the Orders Ask For
The FTC posted a blank copy of the order sent to each company. Unless the order says otherwise, the requests cover January 1, 2023, through the date the company fully complies. Among the 23 specifications, each company must:- Describe in detail every method that uses personal information as an input to adjust or set the prices of its products and services — the tools and software involved, each input, whether that input varies by individual consumer or group of consumers, and when the company overrides the result.
- Report, by year, how many sales and how much revenue involved a price set with such a method.
- Describe how it uses personal information to decide which workers are offered which jobs, and to set worker pay — including base pay, per-mile and per-minute rates, surge and boost multipliers, bonuses, guarantees and tips.
- Explain how its pricing methods affect worker pay and how much of what the customer pays the company keeps.
- Describe how it uses personal information to sort consumers or workers into groups that are treated differently.
- Identify where each tool, input and type of personal information came from, any third party that supplied it, and any third party the company licenses or sells it to.
- Describe every study, A/B test or other project since January 1, 2021, evaluating its pricing, job-offer or pay practices, and the results.
- Describe the costs and benefits of these practices for consumers and workers, including whether they raise or lower prices and pay.
- Provide the exact wording, location and dates of anything it has told consumers or workers about these practices.
The order defines “personal information” broadly, starting with names, addresses, geolocation, email and phone numbers, and government ID numbers. It defines “worker” to include employees, independent contractors and gig workers, but not salaried employees or hourly employees on a fixed schedule. The order also tells the companies not to produce records about individual customers or the contents of customers’ communications.
Deadlines and What Happens Next
Each company must file a special report, sworn to by a company official, no later than 45 days after the order was served. Within 14 days of service, each must also contact FTC staff to say whether it has all of the requested information, and identify any question it cannot fully answer because the information is held by someone else. The FTC did not publish the service dates, so the exact due dates are not public; for an order served on the day it was issued, 45 days would fall in mid-December 2026.Under the order, confidential or privileged commercial or financial information will be reported only in aggregate or anonymous form, and a submission marked confidential will not be released without first giving the company ten days’ notice, except as the FTC Act allows. The FTC has not said when it will publish anything from the study.
The orders follow the FTC’s August 2026 invitation for public comment on a proposed enforcement policy statement on personalized pricing, and they come as states have begun to act on their own: Connecticut and Maryland have passed laws restricting surveillance pricing, and private class actions over data-driven pricing have been filed against JetBlue and The Washington Post.
Questions
Is the FTC accusing these companies of breaking the law?
No. The orders were issued under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, which the FTC describes as authority to conduct wide-ranging studies that do not have a specific law enforcement purpose. They ask for information; they do not charge any of the nine companies with a violation.
Is there a refund or settlement from the FTC personalized pricing orders?
No. A 6(b) study produces information and, usually later, a staff report. It does not create a fund, a claim form or refunds for customers or workers.
When do the companies have to respond?
Each order requires a sworn special report no later than 45 days after the date the order was served on the company. Each company must also contact FTC staff within 14 days of service to say whether it has all the requested information. The exact due dates depend on when each company was served, which the FTC did not publish.
Will the FTC publish what the companies say?
The order says confidential or privileged commercial or financial information will be reported only on an aggregate or anonymous basis, and that a submission marked confidential will not be disclosed without first giving the company ten days’ notice, except as the FTC Act allows. The FTC has not announced a date for any report.
What time period do the orders cover?
Most requests cover January 1, 2023, through the date the company fully complies. Questions about internal studies, A/B tests and other projects on pricing, job offers and pay reach back to January 1, 2021.
Sources
• FTC Launches Personalized Pricing and Compensation Inquiry — Federal Trade Commission press release, October 28, 2026• Order to File a Special Report — FTC Matter No. P246202 (blank form of the order sent to each company)
