麦当劳正面临联邦法院的一项诉讼，指控其使用一款工具来确定独立特许经营门店的定价。检方称，此举违反了反垄断法，并人为抬高了美国消费者的菜单价格。
McDonald’s is facing a lawsuit in federal court over its alleged use of an tool to determine pricing across independent franchises, which prosecutors say violates antitrust laws and has unfairly inflated menu prices for Americans.
麦当劳在美国的绝大多数门店均为独立所有，根据公司政策，各门店应独立决定价格。反垄断法要求企业独立于竞争对手设定价格，因为协调定价会抑制市场竞争，并推高消费者成本。
The vast majority of McDonald’s US stores are independently owned and are said to individually decide on prices under company policy. Antitrust laws require businesses to set prices independently from their competitors, as coordinating prices can stifle market competition and push up costs for consumers.
该诉讼于10月2日在芝加哥联邦法院提起，指控麦当劳的人工智能工具非法，因为其本质上是让独立特许经营门店交换非公开的定价和销售数据。
The lawsuit, filed on 2 October in a federal Chicago courtroom, alleges that McDonald’s AI tool is illegal because it amounts to independent franchise locations exchanging nonpublic price and sales data.
起诉书称：“本案关乎麦当劳将‘优化’引入美国最大的快餐连锁体系。麦当劳构建并多年部署了其自有的信息共享定价平台，该平台利用每日数百万笔交易的数据，为全美数千家餐厅设定菜单价格。其结果是针对那些已经捉襟见肘的消费者实施算法性价格操纵。”针对该诉讼，麦当劳公司发言人表示，该“投诉书充满不实信息，我们将坚决抗辩”。
“This case is about McDonald’s bringing ‘optimization’ to America’s largest fast food chain,” the complaint says. “McDonald’s has built and for years deployed its own information-sharing pricing platform, which draws on data from its millions of daily transactions to set menu prices across thousands of US restaurants. The result is algorithmic price-fixing aimed at customers who are already stretched thin.”In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the McDonald’s corporation said that that the “complaint is filled with inaccuracies and we will vigorously defend against this lawsuit”.
声明称：“人工智能并不设定麦当劳餐厅的菜单价格——是麦当劳的特许经营商在设定价格。我们为特许经营商提供可选工具，以帮助他们为自身业务和顾客做出最佳决策，但这些工具在任何方面都不会自动化、协调或固定价格。”路透社近期的一项调查报道指出，一些麦当劳特许经营商曾受到公司压力，被要求使用人工智能定价工具，并记录其偏离工具建议的情况。麦当劳反驳了这一说法，称路透社的报道“纯属臆测且缺乏事实依据”。
“AI does not set menu prices at McDonald’s restaurants – McDonald’s franchisees do,” it said. “Optional tools are available to franchisees to help them make the best decisions for their businesses and customers, but these tools do not automate, coordinate or fix pricing in any way.”A recent Reuters investigation reported that some McDonald’s franchise owners have been pressured by the company to use the AI pricing tools and record their deviations from the tool’s recommendations. McDonald’s pushed back against that characterization, calling the Reuters reporting “speculative and uninformed”.
这起诉讼最初由一名来自伊利诺伊州的男子迈克尔·托马斯提出，并已被提议作为一起全国性的集体诉讼。托马斯是麦当劳的常客，据称他“非常注重价格”。他发现，在自己位于伊利诺伊州迪卡尔布的社区内，他常点的套餐——一个带奶酪的1/4磅汉堡、一份炸薯条和一杯可乐——的价格甚至存在差异。据列为托马斯代理人的律师并未立即回应置评请求。
The litigation, which has been proposed as a nationwide class action lawsuit, was first brought forward by an Illinois man named Michael Thomas. Thomas, a McDonald’s regular who is described as “price conscious”, found that the cost of his usual order – a Quarter Pounder with cheese, fries and a Coke – varied even within his neighborhood in DeKalb, Illinois. The attorney listed as representing Thomas did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
托马斯的经历似乎并非个例。在曼哈顿金融区的一家麦当劳，43岁的丘克瓦马·奥凯克正在享用一杯芒果菠萝冰沙，这是他从一份价值约15美元的经济套餐中购买的部分——他通常一个月只会买一次这样的套餐。
Thomas doesn’t appear to be alone in his experience. At a McDonald’s in Manhattan’s financial district, Chukwama Okeke, 43, was finishing a mango-pineapple smoothie that he bought as part of a value meal that cost about $15 – something he only gets about once a month.
奥凯克表示，当他在布鲁克林皇冠高地社区的一家麦当劳点同样的套餐时，实际支付的价格更接近9美元。
Okeke said that when he orders the same meal at a McDonald’s in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, he ends up paying closer to $9.
他说：“曼哈顿的麦当劳比布鲁克林的贵得多。我注意到，在一些地区，如果人流量很大，价格往往也会更高。”27岁的比阿特丽斯·米兰德点了一份小吃卷、一小份炸薯条和一杯冰咖啡，共花费11.51美元。她表示，自己在金融区和布朗克斯社区支付的价格差异不大，但整体价格确实有所上涨。
“McDonald’s in Manhattan is much more expensive than those in Brooklyn,” he said. “I’ve notice in some areas if they have a lot of like food traffic, the prices tend to get higher.”Beatriz Milander, 27, who ordered a snack wrap, a small fries and an iced coffee for $11.51, hadn’t noticed a huge difference between what she pays in the financial district and what she pays in her Bronx neighborhood, but said prices overall have inched up.
她说：“近几个月来，我看到他们推出了更多优惠活动或低价商品，但价格确实一度有所上涨。”专家称，使用人工智能来设定或调整价格的公司可能会加剧美国的负担能力危机，使美国人更难承受日常开销。据左翼智库“基础协作组织”（Groundwork Collaborative）负责人林赛·欧文斯称，今年迄今，美国各地已提出至少90项旨在反对算法价格操纵的立法提案。欧文斯最近还撰写了一本关于这一主题的书。
“In the last few months, I’ve seen them do more deals or like lower-priced things,” she said. “But it definitely was pricing up for a little bit there.”Experts say that companies using AI to set or alter pricing could exacerbate the country’s affordability crisis and make it harder for Americans to bear everyday costs. So far this year, at least 90 pieces of legislation have been filed across the country to push back against algorithmic price-fixing, according to Lindsay Owens, the head of the left-leaning thinktank Groundwork Collaborative, who recently authored a book on the topic.
麦当劳于2019年收购了人工智能公司Dynamic Yield，但坚决否认在制定菜单价格时使用人工智能。在诉讼提起前一天的10月1日，该连锁品牌发布声明，否认使用动态定价，并描述其定价工具仅提供信息，加盟商可自由决定是否采纳。
McDonald’s acquired an AI company, Dynamic Yield, in 2019, but has firmly denied using AI in setting menu prices. In a statement released on 1 October, the day before the lawsuit was filed, the chain denied using dynamic pricing and described its pricing tool as simply providing information that franchises are free to decide whether to adopt.
近年来，这家快餐连锁企业因其较高的价格而受到审视，2023年，康涅狄格州一家麦当劳门店18美元的大麦克套餐在网络上引发热议。该加盟商提起诉讼，指控是人工智能定价工具向加盟商建议了18美元的价格。
The fast-food chain has been scrutinized over recent years for its elevated prices, and went viral in 2023 over an $18 Big Mac meal at a Connecticut McDonald’s. The franchise’s owner filed a lawsuit alleging that it was the AI pricing tool that suggested the $18 price to the franchise.
根据该连锁品牌2024年发布的一份事实清单，2019年至2024年间，麦当劳菜单项目的平均价格上涨了约40%。
According to a fact sheet the chain published in 2024, the average price of a McDonald’s menu item increased about 40% between 2019 and 2024.