Instacart has agreed to pay $60 million to settle the Federal Trade Commission’s allegations that the online grocery delivery platform deceived consumers about its Instacart+ membership and free delivery offers, according to court documents filed in San Francisco on Thursday.Instacart’s offer of “free delivery” for first orders was illusory because shoppers were charged other fees, the FTC alleged.And the company did not adequately notify shoppers that free trials of its Instacart+ subscription service woul ...

Key Takeaways Instacart's use of AI-driven pricing is drawing attention from federal regulators. Early this year, the FTC said that "surveillance pricing," which Instacart says it does not use, has become more popular among online retailers. With surveillance pricing, companies could use data about a shopper such as their location, browsing history, and even the movements of a computer mouse to guess how much they might be willing to spend and influence displayed prices. Shares of Instacart parent Maplebear ...

核心事件 - 美国联邦贸易委员会正在对Instacart展开调查 调查涉及该公司的人工智能定价工具[1] - 联邦贸易委员会已向公司发出民事调查要求 以获取其Eversight定价工具的相关信息[1] 调查背景与原因 - Instacart的Eversight定价工具允许零售商使用人工智能进行不同价格的测试[2][3] - 近期一项研究显示 不同消费者在Instacart上购买相同的杂货商品时 被显示了不同的价格 这引发了批评[2] - 联邦贸易委员会对媒体报道中关于Instacart涉嫌的定价行为表示不安[2] 公司回应与监管态度 - 联邦贸易委员会遵循其长期政策 不对任何潜在或正在进行的调查发表评论[2]