Documented cases

Project Nessie

The FTC alleges Amazon ran a secret pricing algorithm, internally codenamed Project Nessie, that raised prices to test whether competitors would follow, then held them high when they did, allegedly extracting more than a billion dollars from customers.

nH Predict

A class action alleges UnitedHealthcare used an AI tool, nH Predict, as a hard cap on post-acute care for Medicare Advantage patients, with roughly 90% of appealed denials overturned, cutting vulnerable seniors off from care.

PXDX

A federal class action alleges Cigna used an algorithm called PXDX to batch-deny around 300,000 claims in two months at an average of 1.2 seconds per claim, with physicians signing denials without reviewing the records.

YieldStar

The DOJ alleges RealPage's YieldStar revenue-management software let competing landlords share sensitive data and coordinate rent increases across 16-plus US metro markets, functioning as algorithmic price-fixing.

Dynamic pricing + vertical monopoly

The DOJ and 29 state attorneys general allege Live Nation/Ticketmaster used surge-style dynamic pricing on tickets while vertically integrating venues, promotion and ticketing to block any alternative from emerging.

Algorithmic wage discrimination

Scholars and litigation allege Uber's driver-pay algorithm makes individualised offers based on each driver's data, so the same trip is offered to different drivers at different rates, suppressing wages for those whose data suggests they will accept less.

Engagement algorithms

41 state attorneys general allege Meta's engagement-maximising algorithms amplified content harmful to teens, with internal research documenting the harm and decisions to prioritise engagement over safety.

Surveillance pricing

Senators and the FTC are scrutinising surveillance-pricing infrastructure: electronic shelf labels, facial recognition and loyalty data that together enable charging different customers different prices for the same product based on inferred willingness to pay.