FTC Issues Warning On The Use Of Algorithms To Recommend Or Set Prices

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently published a blog post warning that the use of algorithms to assist in determining prices may violate federal antitrust laws, regardless of the business or industry. The FTC blog references a Statement of Interest that it and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) (together, the Agencies) filed earlier that same day in Duffy v. Yardi Systems, Inc. in the Western District of Washington. In Yardi, a putative class of plaintiffs alleges that certain landlords violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by agreeing to use Yardi's rent pricing algorithms to allegedly inflate rental prices in multifamily housing. The Agencies stated they submitted the Statement of Interest to notify the Yardi Court of DOJ's earlier Statement of Interest filed in a case with similar allegations — In re RealPage, Inc. — and to explain why the defendant landlords' motion to dismiss in Yardi allegedly runs afoul of the principles the government