A proposed nationwide class action lawsuit filed in Chicago federal court on October 9, 2026, accuses McDonald’s of illegally coordinating menu prices across its restaurants. The litigation claims the fast-food company uses AI-powered algorithms to fix prices, potentially impacting millions of customers across the United States.
The complaint alleges McDonald’s conspired with independent franchisees to set prices using nonpublic transaction data from nearly 14,000 locations. McDonald’s rejected the claims on October 12, 2026, stating that "AI does not set the price of a Big Mac or any other menu item." The company maintains that franchisees make their own pricing decisions using standard analytics. This lawsuit joins similar antitrust actions filed in recent years regarding the use of algorithms to coordinate prices for various consumer goods.