US probing if Ticketmaster does enough to stop resale bots: Bloomberg
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If the US Federal Trade Commission pursues a case and Live Nation - which owns Ticketmaster - loses, it stands to face billions of dollars in penalties.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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US regulators were investigating whether Live Nation’s Ticketmaster was doing enough to prevent bots from illegally reselling tickets on its platform, Bloomberg News reported on Sept 15, an allegation that the company denied.
The probe by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which examines the ticket-selling unit’s compliance with the Better Online Ticket Sales (Bots) Act, is at an advanced stage, and a decision on whether to pursue a case could come within weeks, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The 2016 law prohibits the use of bots and other methods to bypass ticket purchase limits set by online sellers.
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster told Reuters in an e-mailed statement: “We haven’t violated the Bots Act and will vigorously defend any such claims. However, we would prefer to work with the FTC to implement policies to improve the ticketing industry.”
The spokesperson added: “We believe the FTC has a fundamental misunderstanding of Ticketmaster’s policies, and is taking an excessively expansionist view of the Bots Act.”
Ticketmaster blocks 200 million bots each day, a fivefold increase from 2019, the spokesperson said.
Live Nation has been in US regulatory crosshairs.
The Department of Justice sued the company and Ticketmaster in 2024 for allegedly monopolising markets across the live concert industry in ways that hurt artists and ticket buyers.
More recently, the FTC has sought information from artists and fans about unfair and anti-competitive practices in the live concert and event industries as part of a crackdown by the Trump administration on ticket scalping.
In August, the FTC sued ticket reseller Key Investment Group
Bloomberg said in the report that FTC investigators were also assessing whether Ticketmaster has a financial incentive to allow resellers to circumvent its ticket limit rules, according to the report.
If the FTC pursues a case and Live Nation loses, the company could face billions of dollars in penalties, as the law permits fines of up to US$53,000 (S$67,828) per violation, Bloomberg said.
The FTC declined to comment. REUTERS
