Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a progressive "Squad" member, accused grocery giant Kroger of plotting to use new technology in a price surge scheme.
Lawmakers have been sounding the alarm on Kroger's use of facial recognition technology since at least August, when Sens. Bob Casey (R-PA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a letter warning Kroger about adopting the technology. Tlaib joined the fray Wednesday, accusing the technology of being discriminatory.
"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," she said in an X post. "Facial recognition technology is often discriminatory and shouldn't be used in grocery stores to price gouge residents."
Kroger announced the replacement of paper price tags with Electronic Shelving Labels, which allow employees to rapidly change prices based on different factors throughout the day. The combination of ESLs with facial recognition technology is raising fears that the two could be combined to create personalized profiles of customers and dynamically raise prices.
"ESLs or digital price tags may result in Kroger deploying dynamic pricing for goods, increasing the price of essential goods on shelves based on real-time conditions and inventory and creating both confusion and hardship for my residents," Tlaib said. "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 the gender and age of customers captured on camera to present targeted advertisements to display on ESLs."
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, Microsoft said Kroger is not using its facial recognition technology, which was piloted in 2019.
“Kroger is not using Microsoft facial recognition technology, and the current digital price tag technology being used is not the technology we piloted in 2019. For further questions about the solutions in place today, please reach out to Kroger," a Microsoft spokesperson said.
"ESLs will allow Kroger to use customer data to build personalized profiles of each customer to determine the maximum price of goods customers are willing to pay," Tlaib 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. High grocery prices are one of the leading concerns among Americans who are concerned about inflation."
Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the United States, debuted the new technology in 2018 and rapidly expanded to use it in 500 stores by 2023. It has since spread to other stores.
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Warren and Casey's letter voiced concerns similar to Tlaib's.
“Through a partnership with Microsoft, Kroger plans to place cameras at its digital displays, which will use facial recognition tools to determine the gender and age of a customer captured on camera and present them with personalized offers and advertisements on the EDGE Shelf. EDGE will allow Kroger to use customer data to build personalized profiles of each customer and then use those profiles ‘to determine how much price hiking each of us can tolerate,’ quickly updating and displaying the customer’s maximum willingness to pay on the digital price tag,” the letter said.
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