Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to take a more aggressive posture in battling the use of so-called “bots” in live event tickets, penning a letter to the regulator last week. Blumenthal, who has long urged stronger enforcement of the existing 2016 federal law making the use of such automated programs to purchase tickets illegal, requested a briefing on the FTC’s consumer protection efforts related to ticketing by December 20.
Despite the BOTS Act being the law across the country for nearly a decade, and widespread blame for consumer ticketing woes falling on the use of these programs, there has been almost zero actual enforcement action taken during that time.
“This lack of deterrence from the underenforcement of the BOTS Act has fostered a sense of impunity,” Sen. Blumenthal writes, “inviting more scalpers with more sophisticated schemes, driving up prices for consumers, and creating a minefield of scams.”
The letter is similar to one sent by Sen. Blumenthal and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) two years ago in the wake of the disastrous Taylor Swift Eras Tour ticket sales process. At the time, there had only been one enforcement action taken by the FTC for alleged BOTS Act violations. Two years later, the number of such actions remains unchanged.
Sen. Blumenthal has also been critical of Ticketmaster and corporate parent Live Nation Entertainment’s role in the supposed proliferation of “bots” in ticketing. In the wake of the Taylor Swift debacle, both companies were quick to blame the use of such programs for the terrible consumer experience in trying to grab the hot tickets. But no proof of such programs actually impacting the sale was offered.
At a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in early 2023, Sen Blumenthal pressed Live Nation’s Joe Berchtold on why his company has taken no action despite constantly blaming “bots” when its systems fail and consumers can’t get tickets without paying enormously surged prices, either on resale platforms or via “platinum” and “dynamic” surge pricing systems put in place on primary sale, utilizing the perception of scarcity to drive up prices.
“You are the ones ultimately responsible for the astronomically rising prices, the exorbitant hidden fees, the sold out shows, the bots and scalpers,” Sen. Blumenthal told Berchtold at the hearing. “And I think that consumers and artists and venues are all fed up with the system that exists right now.”
When the Live Nation CFO and President implied that new legislation was needed to eliminate the bot problem, Sen. Blumenthal was quick to point out that his companies already had the power to tackle bot usage and had still only made one report to the FTC on the matter.
“If you are concerned about artists, consumers, venues and about the public interest, you would take action under current law,” he said. “You have the right of action, you have the resources and you have the kinds of legal authority to do it. And so that is why I come back to where I began. Your approach seems to be, “It’s everyone else who’s responsible here and not us.” And I hope that approach will change here in the future.”
Many have argued that “bots” are a convenient scapegoat for event operators and companies like Ticketmaster seeking to divert blame when fans share their anger about surging ticket prices and the difficulties of purchasing tickets at anything resembling a “face value” amount. Rather than a bot menace, it is the practice of deliberately misleading consumers by holding back a significant number of tickets from sale by the event operator and box office that causes significant consumer issues in the ticket business. Such practices stimulate purchase at inflated prices both on the primary and secondary ticket market, while in reality significant numbers of tickets remain unsold, slowly released over time as the show date approaches.
“Holdbacks are one of the dirtiest secrets in the industry,” wrote New York State Sen. James Skoufis in an opinion piece published by NBC in the wake of the Swift fiasco. “It’s likely that at each of Taylor Swift’s 52 upcoming concerts, thousands of tickets will be “held back” and never released to the general public… According to a report compiled by the New York Attorney General’s Office, over 50% of tickets to top shows between 2012-2015 were not reserved for the general public. Holdbacks should be banned or severely limited.”
Ticket resale marketplaces have largely been supportive of strong enforcement of the existing BOTS Act.
“TicketNetwork supports the Federal Trade Commission continuing to enforce existing law banning the use of automated programs to buy tickets in bulk,” says TicketNetwork Director of Communications Sean Burns. “While the FTC continues its enforcement of the BOTS act, we continue to urge lawmakers to make the reporting of suspected violations of the existing anti-bot legislation a requirement, as well as demand greater transparency for consumers on the distribution and pricing of tickets at initial sale.”
“For years, investigations have shown that promoters and event rights-holders regularly hold back a huge percentage of tickets, allocating some to presales, diverting many to partners, or holding them back during the initial sale to be released for sale at a later date,” he continued. “The net impact of these tactics is to convince the ticket-buying public that shows are sold out, or close to sold out, which keeps prices inflated by implying the available supply of tickets is far lower than it actually is.”
