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Ticketmaster Fights FTC Ticket Gouging Claims
7 Jan
Summary
- Ticketmaster urges dismissal of FTC case over ticket gouging allegations.
- Company claims BOTS Act law does not apply to ticketing platforms.
- FTC lawsuit alleges Ticketmaster profited from resellers' violations.
Ticketmaster is challenging the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit accusing it of collaborating with resellers to inflate ticket prices. The company is urging a federal judge in Los Angeles to dismiss the case, asserting that the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, central to the FTC's claims, is intended for resellers and not for ticketing platforms like itself.
The FTC and seven states filed suit in September, alleging that Ticketmaster facilitated illegal ticket purchasing practices by brokers. They claim the company reaped $3.7 billion in resale fees between 2019 and 2024 by ignoring resellers' violations of artist-set ticket limits, a practice Ticketmaster has reportedly known about since 2018.
The BOTS Act, enacted in 2016, prohibits bypassing technological measures used to prevent bulk ticket purchases by resellers and bans the sale of tickets obtained through such circumvention. Ticketmaster contends it cannot be held liable under this law, as it is the resellers, not the platform, who sell tickets on its resale site, and the FTC has not proven purchase limits are covered measures.
