Toronto could ban ‘surveillance pricing’ for groceries. Here is what that means.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is putting forward a motion to stop the practice of “surveillance pricing” for groceries, which uses algorithms to determine the maximum price online shoppers are willing to pay for a product.

“By analyzing our personal data, retailers can charge more for milk from a busy mother of three whose kids go through multiple cartons a week,” Chow said at a news conference on Tuesday.

“Surveillance pricing means the price depends on who’s looking and when they’re looking.”

The motion, seconded by Coun. Alejandra Bravo, follows a similar move by the Manitoba government, which put an end to what it called the “predatory” online pricing model in March.

Chow added that one of the problems with the practice is that customers might not even know they’re being targeted for higher prices.

“We need to absolutely identify all possible mechanisms to ban this surveillance pricing...the price depends on who is shopping, when the person is shopping, that’s price gouging,” she said.

Chow and Bravo will bring the motion before executive committee on Tuesday.