In the modern digital era, with the help of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, America's major city New York City has tightened its grip on the arbitrariness of big companies that charge different prices from customers by using their personal information. In a major and precedent-setting step towards protecting consumer rights, the New York City Council has passed a landmark law imposing a complete ban on 'Surveillance Pricing'. After the implementation of this new law, no company or digital platform will now be able to track the personal online activities of customers and charge them arbitrary and discriminatory prices. On Thursday, November 12, 2026, this important bill passed in the Democratic Party-dominated New York City Council with an overwhelming majority of 44-5, which shows the seriousness of the public representatives on this issue. This public welfare bill was introduced in the House by City Council Speaker Julie Menin and was strongly supported by prominent leader Zohran Mamdani. Under the stringent provisions of the new law, if any company is found violating this ban, it will be imposed with a hefty financial penalty of $1,000 (about Rs 94,000 more) per violation. After all, what is this 'surveillance pricing' and how do companies charge more money from customers? Common consumers often don't even realize that the price they are shown when making an online purchase or booking may be completely different from the price shown to someone else sitting next to them. In the language of technology and economics, 'surveillance pricing' is a complex and secret algorithm-based technique under which companies deeply analyze customers' sensitive personal data—such as their web browsing history, geographic location, demographics (age, income group), past purchasing habits, device battery, and social media activity. On the basis of information obtained from this digital monitoring, companies are able to assess the maximum price which customer is willing or forced to pay for any item or service. As a result, different customers are shown different prices for the same item or service at the same time. While presenting this bill in City Hall before voting, Speaker Julie Menin strongly attacked this hidden loot. He said that many reasons for rising inflation in the market are clearly visible to the customers, but a very hidden and dangerous reason behind it is the cunning practice of 'surveillance pricing' of the companies, through which the companies take advantage of the digital activities of the customers and charge more money from the common people of New York. After the passing of the law, Zohran Mamdani took a funny jibe on social media, saying – this tweet will say the same thing in 'incognito mode' too. Immediately after this historic law was passed by the City Council with an overwhelming majority, Zohran Mamdani informed the world about this decision by sharing a very interesting and sarcastic post on the social media platform 'X'. they wrote, "Some companies use your personal data (like your browsing history) to show different prices to different customers. In technical terms this is called 'surveillance pricing', and we have banned it completely in New York City."
Taking a dig at companies' online tracking habits, Zohran Mamdani ended his post with a witty sarcasm saying, "Don't worry, this tweet will say exactly the same thing in your browser's 'Incognito Mode'." His sarcasm points out that people often resort to private or incognito mode to avoid price manipulation, but now the citizens of New York will not need it. Charges have been leveled against big companies like Uber, Lyft and Target, know what are the exemptions given in the new law. If we look at the major provisions of the new law, this Act clearly prohibits any business company or online platform from doing discriminatory pricing on the basis of customer's personal data. However, keeping in mind the ease of doing business and genuine consumer benefits, the law will continue to allow companies to run transparent loyalty programs and offer certain special and clear discounts to all eligible customers, provided their terms and conditions are uniform and transparent for all. It is worth noting that for some time in America, app-based taxi service providers Uber and Lyft, retail giant Target, grocery delivery platform Instacart and many major airlines have been facing serious allegations of using surveillance pricing and these companies have also been under the scanner of regulatory agencies. Although many of these companies have officially denied any such practice, this new and strict New York City law has completely put a legal ban on any such possibility in the future.