To: Jeff Bezos and Washington Post leadership
Tell the Washington Post to End AI Price Gouging!
Many Washington Post subscribers were recently alerted that their subscription rates will be going up, with the update buried in the fine print of an email: “This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data.”
Access to the news is vital, but billionaire Jeff Bezos’ grip on one of the nation’s leading media companies is putting profit ahead of the public good.
The more we normalize this kind of price gouging, the more corporations will use AI to extract money from us. Sign the petition now calling on the Washington Post to end predatory surveillance pricing!
Why is this important?
This latest tactic from the Washington Post is nothing short of AI-powered surveillance pricing, and it’s not the first time a company has used the tactic to exploit consumers. Delta Airlines is rolling out artificial intelligence to price flights, Uber and Lyft have been known to charge more if a user’s battery is low, and Instacart has been caught charging customers different prices for the same products.
It’s unclear exactly how the Washington Post’s pricing algorithm works, but we know they can instantly process vast amounts of subscriber data—from reading habits to renewal patterns—to make decisions about pricing at an individual level.
For example, one expert explains how “if you use an Apple product, usually people increase prices because they assume that if you have an iPhone, you may have a higher income.”
Washington Post readers deserve to know their privacy is protected, not exploited for profit. Demand Jeff Bezos end this predatory practice!