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The struggling Washington Post has been socked with a class action lawsuit over its "surveillance pricing policy” that was secretly put into effect in 2024, according to a class action suit filed June 11 by a subscriber.
Surveillance pricing is the shady practice of charging different subscription prices to readers based on their online profiles, demographics, reading habits and other behavioral habits.
“The Post turned the ordinary habits—reading the morning headlines, checking an election update, following a favorite columnist—into a pricing profile,” according to the lawsuit. “Activities readers would view as private became inputs in a profit model.”
The paper was forced to disclose its surveillance pricing after New York State passed a law in the spring of 2025 requiring companies that set prices using algorithms based on consumers’ personal data to disclose that fact to consumers.
WaPo in March disclosed its surveillance policy practice in renewal notes, saying it used personal data, gathered from subscribers, to set the prices.
Outrage followed. “If you went to a grocery store and the person in front of you paid $2 for a loaf of bread while you paid $4 for the same bread with the difference only being their browsing habits how would you feel,” said a subcriber quoted in the suit.
Another frustrated user described seeing a renewal jump from $170 to $260, cancelling in response, then later clicking a link to an article and being shown a new subscription offer again, referencing the old lower annual price. Another person immediately asked: “Why was yours $170 originally... I managed to get a $60 deal.”
The suit’s plaintiff claims the Post’s pricing violates Washington’s Consumer Protection Procedure Act, and, on behalf of class members, wants a jury trial.
From the suit: “Had The Post transparently and truthfully disclosed its practices, The Post Members would have acted differently or taken additional steps to mitigate harm, by, including but not limited to, not purchasing subscriptions, purchasing print copies of The Post in lieu of reading online, reducing use of the Platform, or utilizing different, heightened privacy protocols.”
A trial is the last thing that the Post needs. A newspaper owned by one of the richest men spying on the online habits of readers isn’t a good look.
WaPo’s motto is “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Here’s a new spin: “Transparency Dies with Surveillance Pricing.”
Iran shouldn’t hold its breath waiting for the $300B reconstruction fund promised in the memorandum of understanding to end Donald Trump’s war, according to a June 18 panel of journalists from The Economist.
Deputy editor Ed Carr called the promise a “massive bribe,” to end a conflict that Trump shouldn’t have started in the first place.
Similarly, the US shouldn’t hold its breath waiting for the more than $2T in investments that the Gulf States pledged to curry favor with Trump, who likes big numbers.
Anshel Pfeffer, The Economist’s Israel correspondent, said the MOU has united that politically fractious country. “Nobody has anything good to say about it,” he said. “It’s a glorious defeat for Israel and a disaster for Netanyahu."
The Israeli leader based his political career on destroying Iran, and since 2016 touting his close partnership with Trump. “Both have come crashing down,” noted Pfeffer.
The panel said Israel’s next PM will resort to regional diplomacy vs. military action.
Bullish on sales, not on hiring. The Business Roundtable CEO Economic Outlook Survey finds that 81 percent of respondents expect sales to increase during the next six months, while a mere five percent expect declines.
The same bullish attitude holds true for capital expenditures as 52 percent expect a hike and 11 percent project a dip.
It’s a different look on the job front as 32 percent see an increase in employment and the same number expects a decrease.
Commenting on the divergence between capital spending and hiring plans, BR CEO Joshua Bolten sees the need for more investment in training programs to help employees succeed as AI reshapes workplaces.
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