FTC files bombshell suit against Ticketmaster that seeks billions in fines | Latest Tech News
The Federal Trade Commission filed a bombshell lawsuit against Ticketmaster on Thursday, accusing the online broker of raking in income through exorbitant charges and turning a blind eye as bots illegally resell thousands and thousands of tickets to clients.
The FTC is searching for billions of {dollars} in penalties under the BOTS Act, which permits fines of $53,000 per violation.
The company’s lawsuit alleges that Ticketmaster has allowed bots to resell thousands and thousands of tickets past the acquisition limits it publicly announced since the BOTS Act took impact.
The FTC’s lawsuit contains three costs against Ticketmaster. Getty Images
That means Ticketmaster in idea may face astronomical fines that may cripple the company – as properly as potential future refund funds to shoppers if it loses the case and is discovered to have harmed shoppers, sources said.
“The total amount of fines are potentially in the hundreds of billions of dollars,” a source close to the scenario said.
Filed in California federal court, the lawsuit accuses Ticketmaster, a subsidiary of Live Nation, of sweeping violations of the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, or BOTS Act. The FTC has jurisdiction over the 2016 law, which bans the use of bots to buy tickets in bulk – a common tactic that permits resellers to jack up costs.
President Trump issued an govt order in March asking the FTC to step up enforcement of the BOTS Act. Getty Images
The criticism accuses Ticketmaster of deceptive clients by itemizing deceptively low ticket costs when clients search for occasions on its web site – only to jack up costs at checkout with obligatory charges that sometimes attain 30% or more of the initial price.
The FTC also accused Ticketmaster of permitting third-party brokers to exceed ticket buy limits set meant to guarantee truthful access to widespread occasions, even as they publicly claimed the boundaries had been being enforced. As a end result, clients have no selection but to pay inflated costs on the secondary market if they need to attend.
“It should not cost an arm and a leg to take the family to a baseball game, or attend your favorite musician’s show,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a assertion. “The Trump-Vance FTC is working hard to ensure that fans have a shot at buying fair-priced tickets and today’s lawsuit is a monumental step in that direction.”
The FTC filed the lawsuit after settlement talks between Ferguson’s workplace and Ticketmaster officers went nowhere last week, a source close to the scenario.
The lawsuit was a direct end result of President Trump’s govt order in March instructing the company to set up enforcement of the BOTS Act, the source added.
Trump signed the order at an Oval Office event alongside musician Kid Rock, who has called for a crackdown on scalpers who promote tickets “sometimes a 500 percent markup.”
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson is pictured Getty Images
From 2019 to 2024, clients spent more than $82.6 billion on tickets brokered by Ticketmaster, according to the FTC.
The FTC’s lawsuit alleges that Ticketmaster is incentivized to enable the bot exercise because it income from charges and markups when the tickets are resold on its platform. The company is also accused of failing to deploy better technology to crack down on bots because doing so would lower income.
“This case would not have happened without President Donald Trump’s leadership,” FTC spokesman Joe Simonson said in a assertion. “Other politicians talk about helping out ordinary Americans, but this President means it. Americans deserve a fair price when they want to go to a baseball game or hear some live music, and the Trump-Vance FTC is working to make that happen.”
Live Nation has publicly expressed help for the Trump-led crackdown on larger costs, saying in a assertion in March that it helps “any meaningful resale reforms — including more enforcement of the BOTS act, caps on resale prices, and more.”
Lawmakers from both events have called for a crackdown on Ticketmaster in current years amid an online uproar over surging ticket costs and alleged predatory practices. The company has been singled out because it controls a large share – up to 70% to 80%, according to some specialists – of the first ticket sale market.
A public outcry against Ticketmaster gained steamed after clients have points shopping for tickets to Taylor Swift’s Era Tour. Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
In current years, Ticketmaster was crushed by critics for mishandling gross sales of Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour,” with Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn calling Live Nation’s incapability to deal with its bot drawback “unbelievable.” The incident sparked a wave of lawsuits from disgruntled “Swifties.”
Last yr, the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing Live Nation of working an unlawful monopoly and searching for to break up its control of Ticketmaster.
In August, the FTC sued ticket reseller Key Investment Group for allegedly utilizing bots to snap up tickets to widespread occasions, including Swift live shows, and resell them at high costs.
Key has denied wrongdoing and said both it and Ticketmaster comply with the BOTS Act.
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