Signals Bipartisan Support for the FTC Monitoring of Google’s Certification Process
The US Minority Ticker Group (USMTG) has added Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe of Texas to a growing list of legislators calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to monitor Google’s introduction of their certification process for ticket resellers. The congressman recently wrote to the FTC to monitor Google’s certification program.
“Given Google’s prominence in online advertising, I applaud Google for addressing this issue and the rollout in a fair and impartial manner…it is my hope that the Federal Trade Commission will also monitor Google’s implementation as this issue moves forward,” the congressman wrote.
Recently, Connecticut Senators Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy, as well as Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Jim Himes, all signed onto a letter advising the FTC to monitor the Google process to assure that is fairly and equitably imposed on ticket resellers.
Soon after, New York City Congressman Adriano Espaillat, a member of the Small Business Committee, wrote to the FTC in defense of small business ticket resellers, writing that, “the recent institution of a de-facto ‘pre-certification’ application process by Google…will be harmful to small and nascent companies that create the infrastructure of an online marketplace…”
Previously, all of the congressional letter writers were from liberal members representing the Northeast states of New York and Connecticut. What is notable about the Ratcliffe letter is that it is from a conservative Republican representing the Deep South Texas, and signals that there is growing bipartisan support for the FTC to monitor Google’s certification process to insure that it is crafted fairly to small and large business alike.
Director Scot X. Esdaile was asked why USMTG has begun this letter writing initiative. He released the following statement:
“As small businesses, our members are constantly fighting to protect the ability to participate in the marketplace, whether it is against the domination of the primary market by Ticketmaster who wants to eliminate competition and monopolize the market, or the secondary market by StubHub who similarly wants to eliminate completion and monopolize the market. It became clear to us that we needed to approach our representatives to congress to protect small businesses by investigating Google’s deceptive and destructive practices.”
