Senators have recently slammed Ticketmaster for only reporting just one bot case to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) despite claims of the Taylor Swift fiasco with the live events giant. Rob Stringer and Neil Portnow, two senators, believe that Ticketmaster being allowed to go unchecked with regulation could lead to unfairness when it comes to artist protection.
They stated at a recent hearing on Capitol Hill that Ticketmaster has come under fire as of late, as it's been accused of not doing enough to prevent the use of bots within the ticketing industry, which has led to inflated ticket prices at some live events. This is not just an issue for ticket-buyers, but for the artists whose shows are attended with the inflated prices.
In the hearing, the senators noted that Ticketmaster has implemented a range of anti-bot technologies, but with little enforcement for those measures, scalpers are continuing to take advantage of the situation.
Stringer and Portnow both believe that an antitrust enforcement is necessary to ensure that Ticketmaster is held accountable for its practices. This follows other reports of the massive Ticketmaster bot scandal, where bots were used to purchase tickets in large numbers and then immediately make them available at inflated prices on resale sites.
The senators have asked the FTC to review Ticketmaster's practices, stressing the importance of a review in terms of the artist protection and the security of live events. They hope that the FTC will take action on the issue, as not only could it protect artists, but also the fans who are often taken advantage of scalpers.
The Senate is determined to achieve some sort of law to protect against unfair ticket-buying practices, in order to truly combat the ongoing Ticketmaster fraud and ensure fair access to concerts and other live events for the public.
This Cyber News was published on therecord.media. Publication date: Tue, 24 Jan 2023 21:28:02 +0000