McDonald's faces antitrust suit over AI menu-pricing tools

A proposed class action filed this week in Chicago federal court alleges that McDonald's uses AI-powered pricing tools to coordinate menu prices among independently owned restaurants. The lawsuit says franchisees face pressure to follow the company's pricing engine or risk losing their franchise status, and seeks unspecified damages for millions of customers. The case turns partly on whether restaurants operating under the same brand should compete independently on prices. The lawsuit says 95% of McDonald's US restaurants are independently owned. McDonald's denies that its technology automates, coordinates or fixes prices and says franchisees set prices individually.