The Federal Trade Commission announced it has filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation for allegedly using illegal tactics to deceive customers and artists.
The FTC said Ticketmaster and Live Nation coordinated with third-party ticket brokers and allowed them to harvest millions of dollars’ worth of tickets. Those tickets were then sold at prices well above face value in the secondary market, the FTC said.
The suit alleges the companies were aware that ticket brokers used fake IP addresses to get around ticket-buying limits meant to prevent brokers from purchasing tickets in mass quantities. Ticketmaster then knowingly allowed these brokers to resell the tickets at higher prices, with Ticketmaster collecting fees on the resold tickets, according to the FTC.
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The suit also claims Ticketmaster provided technical support for brokers to help them circumvent ticket-buying limits.
In addition, the FTC alleges Ticketmaster deceptively hid ticket fees during the buying process, resulting in $16.4 billion from 2019 to 2024.
The action comes one month after the FTC accused the Key Investment Group of bypassing Ticketmaster’s policies to purchase hundreds of tickets, then reselling them at a massive profit.
A federal judge is being asked to impose a civil penalty against the Key Investment Group for violating the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2016. The law prohibits companies from circumventing control measures used by online ticket sellers such as Ticketmaster.
In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order urging the FTC to “rigorously enforce” the Better Online Ticket Sales Act.
“President Donald Trump made it clear in his March Executive Order that the federal government must protect Americans from being ripped off when they buy tickets to live events,” said FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson. “American live entertainment is the best in the world and should be accessible to all of us. It should not cost an arm and a leg to take the family to a baseball game or attend your favorite musician’s show. The Trump-Vance FTC is working hard to ensure that fans have a shot at buying fair-priced tickets, and today’s lawsuit is a monumental step in that direction.”
