TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Nov 29, 2022

U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, and Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, are asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) how it plans to combat the use of online bots following an incident involving Ticketmaster’s presale of Taylor Swift tickets. Ticketmaster says it canceled the general public ticket sale for Swift’s upcoming tour after online bots, in this instance used by scalpers, briefly crashed its site. Blackburn and Blumenthal co-sponsored the 2016 Better Online Ticket Sales Act, or BOTS Act, which bans the use of such bots to buy tickets in bulk from online sites for the purpose of reselling them at higher prices. “The recent difficulties consumers have faced while attempting to purchase tickets is a serious concern and reflective of anti-competitive conduct in the online ticket marketplace,” Blackburn said in a statement. “Fortunately, a solution is already in place that would go a long way in reducing ticket costs and protecting consumers and artists from scammers." The Tennessean has more on the story.