Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) accused grocery chain Kroger of using facial recognition technology to deploy digital price tags and increase the prices certain individuals pay for groceries.
“Families across the country are struggling to keep up with rising prices, and there’s growing concern about how technology like facial recognition and behavioral tracking are driving our unaffordability crisis. I am writing to raise concerns about Kroger’s decision to adopt the use of Electronic Shelving Labels (ESL) in their grocery stores,” the Democratic congresswoman wrote in a letter to Kroger.
“Additionally, through a partnership with Microsoft, I understand that Kroger is intending to place cameras at its digital displays, using facial recognition technology to determine gender and age of customers captured on camera to present targeted advertisements to display on ESLs,” she continued.
“Kroger’s use of facial recognition technology and surge pricing is concerning when we are hearing growing complaints about the rising cost of groceries at big retailers,” she added.
“The use of facial recognition tools has the potential to invade a customer’s privacy and employ biased price discrimination,” she wrote.
“Families are struggling to put food on the table. I sent a letter to @Kroger about their decision to roll out surge pricing using facial recognition technology. Facial recognition technology is often discriminatory and shouldn’t be used in grocery stores to price gouge residents,” Tlaib said.
Families are struggling to put food on the table. I sent a letter to @Kroger about their decision to roll out surge pricing using facial recognition technology. Facial recognition technology is often discriminatory and shouldn't be used in grocery stores to price gouge residents. pic.twitter.com/KwvQB8dfwK
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) October 15, 2024
Read the full letter:
Gizmodo reports:
News leaked over the summer that grocery giant Kroger was partnering with Microsoft to use electronic shelf labels, shortened in the grocery industry as ESLs, as part of an AI push to institute dynamic pricing at its grocery stores. The plan also includes so-called Enhanced Display for Grocery Environment (EDGE) shelf displays that would reportedly include cameras to capture customer information, including images of faces to better tailor ads.
But Rep. Tlaib, whose home state of Michigan has 120 Kroger locations, expressed concern about these technologies in her letter dated Oct. 11 and shared Tuesday for the first time publicly.
The outlet noted the plan for “dynamic pricing” and “highly individualized advertising” drew comparisons to the sci-fi movie Minority Report.
In one scene, Tom Cruise’s character receives ads targeting someone with a Japanese surname after being implanted with another man’s eyes.
WATCH:
“Rep. Rashida Tlaib is calling out Kroger for using facial recognition technology with its digital price tags. Kroger says the technology will help lower prices,” NewsNation wrote.
WATCH:
Rep. Rashida Tlaib is calling out Kroger for using facial recognition technology with its digital price tags. Kroger says the technology will help lower prices.
More: https://t.co/IlkPYmafgK @KelseyKernstine pic.twitter.com/Hn96oyccGS
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) October 17, 2024
“Kroger denied the allegations in a statement to USA TODAY, saying that the technology is intended to lower consumer costs,” USA TODAY wrote.
Per USA TODAY:
Kroger introduced digital price tags, called Kroger Edge, to stores in 2018.
Bilal Baydoun, director of policy and research for Groundwork Collaborative, wrote in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee in March that the technology would be used to “determine how much price hiking each of us can tolerate.”
Kroger is currently in the midst of an attempted merger with fellow grocery conglomerate Albertson’s. Arguments over an injunction sought by the Federal Trade Commission on the proposed $25 billion transaction closed in September.
Lawyers for the commission argued that the deal would reduce competition, raise consumer prices and eliminate jobs.