Marsha Blackburn rips Live Nations very insufficient response to online ticket bot allegations | Latest Tech News
Sen. Marsha Blackburn blasted Ticketmaster and its dad or mum Live Nation on Thursday for its “very insufficient” response to allegations that executives knowingly “turn a blind eye” to automated bots that drive prospects to pay exorbitant costs.
During a Wednesday Senate listening to on online ticket scalping, the Tennessee Republican cited an inside electronic mail in which a Ticketmaster government admitted that the company “turn[s] a blind eye as a matter of policy” when bots exceed ticket buy limits.
Live Nation exec Dan Wall testified that the e-mail was “taken very much out of context” and said the company was doing all it may to battle bots.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said Live Nation’s Dan Wall didn’t do the company “any favors” with his testimony. Getty Images
Blackburn rejected that rationalization in an interview with The Post on Thursday, stating “that was the context and he knows that.”
“I think that Mr. Wall did not do Ticketmaster/Live Nation any favors yesterday,” she said. “There is bipartisan frustration with how they have worked with Congress.”
The senator said she’s going to look to maintain executives accountable if they’re decided to have lied to Congress.
She chaired the Senate Commerce Committee’s listening to, which also included appearances by musician Kid Rock. Saying followers and artists alike are being “screwed” under the established order, he called on Congress to enact a price cap on resold tickets.
The bombshell electronic mail flagged by the Tennessee Republican surfaced in a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit accusing Ticketmaster and Live Nation of reaping huge income by permitting bots to snap up and illegally resell thousands and thousands of tickets to prospects.
Last September, a source close to the scenario said the company may very well be on the hook for “potentially in the hundreds of billions of dollars” in fines.
Live Nation’s Executive Vice President for Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Dan Wall speaks during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation subcommittee listening to on Wednesday. Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock
Wall testified that Ticketmaster was doing all it may to fight bots and had “already made substantial progress,” but the platform was “being attacked by hundreds of millions of bots every day” and unable to utterly stamp out the issue. Despite that, Wall said the company’s defenses are “second to none.”
Blackburn pushed back, calling Wall’s remarks “very dismissive.” Ticketmaster, she added, seems to be more “focused on preserving their business model” than addressing the disaster.
“If your local utility has figured out how to build a system to block cyberattacks, one would think that Ticketmaster could figure this out,” Blackburn said Thursday. “So therefore, it shows you there’s an unwillingness from Ticketmaster to really be serious about this.”
Musician Kid Rock greets Wall in the Russell Senate Office Building on Wednesday. Getty Images
Live Nation said Thursday that Blackburn’s characterization was “wrong.”
“The real threat to fans is predatory, industrial-scale scalping. We’re in a constant arms race with bad actors using increasingly sophisticated ticket-harvesting technology,” a Live Nation spokesperson said in a assertion.
“While we’ve invested more in anti-bot defenses than anyone combined, criminals are chasing their share of a $15 billion resale industry.”
Blackburn, who was set to converse on the Senate flooring on Thursday about her takeaways from the listening to, said the price cap proposal had “really received some support” in the higher chamber of Congress.
The senator also cosponsored the MAIN Event Ticketing Act, which might increase enforcement of an present federal law proscribing automated ticket gross sales and drive Ticketmaster to report profitable bot assaults to the FTC.
Kid Rock speaks during Wednesday’s listening to. Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock
Ticketmaster has confronted intense scrutiny from Congress in large half because it controls a huge share – up to 70% to 80%, according to some consultants – of the first ticket sale market.
Meanwhile, Congress has stepped up its review of algorithmic pricing past the leisure industry. Late last 12 months, a bombshell research accusing Instacart of implementing “dynamic pricing” on grocery deliveries sparked a wave of concern on Capitol Hill.
Blackburn called the rise of algorithmic pricing a “very dangerous thing” for customers and said she’s going to pursue methods to crack down on the apply.
Sen. Blackburn listens during Wednesday’s listening to. Getty Images
The senator expressed alarm about cases in which algorithms have tweaked costs based on a buyer’s ZIP code or buy historical past.
“Whether it is something you’re purchasing at the grocery store or a flight or a sports event ticket,” Blackburn said, “it is really an unfair and deceptive practice.”
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