“This price was set by an algorithm”: News subscribers are surprised by a new line in their renewal emails

Major news organizations are using algorithms to set personalized subscription renewal prices — and disclosing it to subscribers. The Wall Street Journal sent one reader a renewal notice charging more than seventy-six dollars every four weeks, nearly nine hundred twenty-four dollars per year, with an all-caps note: 'This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data.' Nieman Lab reports other outlets are doing the same. Some N-J-dot-com subscribers saw renewal rates of one hundred thirty to one hundred forty-five dollars annually; a New York Times subscriber received a notice for one hundred seventy-five dollars. New York's law requiring algorithmic pricing disclosure — in effect since January — likely explains these messages in renewal emails. Legal experts say the practice raises questions about transparency and fairness, and a class action lawsuit was recently filed against the Washington Post for undisclosed dynamic pricing.

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