{"id":19745,"date":"2022-11-29T23:39:22","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T23:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/11\/29\/crackdown-on-bots-after-ticketmasters-taylor-swift-fiasco\/"},"modified":"2022-11-29T23:39:22","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T23:39:22","slug":"crackdown-on-bots-after-ticketmasters-taylor-swift-fiasco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/11\/29\/crackdown-on-bots-after-ticketmasters-taylor-swift-fiasco\/","title":{"rendered":"Crackdown on bots after Ticketmaster’s Taylor Swift fiasco?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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After Ticketmaster fumbled its sales of Taylor Swift\u2019s Eras stadium tour tickets earlier this month, the company blamed \u201cbot attacks\u201d and fans for the meltdown. <\/p>\n

Now members of Congress are asking the Federal Trade Commission whether it plans to enforce a 2016 law designed to fight such \u201cattacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the ranking member and chair, respectively, of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security, wrote a letter Monday to the FTC<\/a> asking whether the commission will invoke the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, or BOTS Act. <\/p>\n

Signed into law in 2016, the BOTS Act<\/a> gives the government the authority to crack down on those who misuse bots \u2014 software applications that are programmed to run automated tasks online \u2014 to buy large amounts of tickets for profit. These brokers often run ticket bots that automatically suck up huge swaths of tickets as soon as they go on sale. <\/p>\n

Those tickets are then sold on third-party sites, often for much higher prices. The law bans the resale of tickets bought using bots, and people who illegally sell the tickets face a $16,000 fine. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile bots may not be the only reason for these problems, which Congress is evaluating, fighting bots is an important step in reducing consumer costs in the online ticketing industry,\u201d Blackburn and Blumenthal wrote. <\/p>\n

Peter Kaplan, a spokesman for the FTC, said the agency received the letter but declined to comment further.<\/p>\n

When Ticketmaster announced it had canceled sales of Swift concert tickets to the public after a series of presales, it blamed \u201cthe staggering number of bot attacks as well as fans who didn\u2019t have invite codes,\u201d saying that it \u201cdrove unprecedented traffic on our site, resulting in 3.5 billion total system requests \u2014 4x our previous peak.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the letter pointed specifically to Ticketmaster\u2018s Swift debacle, the senators also pointed to other recent examples, such as consumers reportedly trying to buy tickets to see Bob Dylan perform in Nashville this past March, only to be told that the tickets in their shopping cart no longer existed. The letter also cited a separate incident where 22,000 fans registered to buy Blake Shelton tickets but only a few hundred people walked away with them. <\/p>\n

The letter goes on to point to wild markups at third-party sites with some listings as high as $1,000 for a Bruce Springsteen concert and $40,000 to see Adele.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreventing this type of consumer harm is exactly why Congress chose to enact the BOTS Act six years ago and why we both chose to sponsor that bill,\u201d the letter read. <\/p>\n

The FTC has cracked down on individuals using bots in the past. This past January, the FTC announced it planned to issue a $31-million penalty against three New York-based ticket brokers whom the commission accused of using bots to buy up tens of thousands of tickets for concerts and sporting events, then making millions by reselling them to fans at higher prices. <\/p>\n

The letter acknowledged the January case, which was the first use of the BOTS Act, but asked the FTC why it hasn\u2019t done more to enforce against other possible cases of bot use. <\/p>\n

The Swift fiasco also reignited criticism of Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, the world\u2019s largest concert promoter. The two companies merged in 2010, prompting fears that the resulting company would have a stranglehold on ticket sales and other parts of the music business. <\/p>\n

Ticketmaster has long faced criticism for the fees it charges consumers, and there has been political pressure for antitrust officials to get involved.<\/p>\n

Last week, other members of Congress \u2014 Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a longtime critic of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) \u2014 announced they would hold a hearing<\/a> on the impact of Ticketmaster\u2019s dominant grip on the ticketing industry and \u201chow consolidation in the live entertainment and ticketing industry harms customers and artists alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen there is no competition to incentivize better services and fair prices, we all suffer the consequences,\u201d Klobuchar said.<\/p>\n

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) <\/b> tweeted<\/a> earlier this month that she thinks the company needs to be broken up.<\/p>\n

A Justice Department antitrust investigation into Live Nation Entertainment was made public<\/a> earlier this month. It seeks to determine whether Live Nation has abused its power over the live-music industry. <\/p>\n

In 2019, the Justice Department was gearing up for a long legal battle against Live Nation over allegations that it coerced concert venues<\/a> into working with its Ticketmaster division. <\/p>\n

Live Nation settled by agreeing to extend some terms<\/a> of its 2010 merger that were supposed to ensure fair competition in the ticketing marketplace and prohibit Live Nation from retaliating against venue owners that decided to defect to competitors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n