FTC files bombshell suit against Ticketmaster that seeks billions in fines

The Federal Trade Commission filed a bombshell lawsuit against Ticketmaster on Thursday, accusing the online broker of raking in profits through exorbitant fees and turning a blind eye as bots illegally resell millions of tickets to customers.

The FTC is seeking billions of dollars in penalties under the BOTS Act, which allows fines of $53,000 per violation. The agency’s lawsuit alleges that Ticketmaster has allowed bots to resell millions of tickets beyond the purchase limits it publicly announced since the BOTS Act took effect.

That means Ticketmaster in theory could face astronomical fines that could cripple the company – as well as potential future refund payments to consumers if it loses the case and is found to have harmed consumers, sources said.

“The total amount of fines are potentially in the hundreds of billions of dollars,” a source close to the situation said.

Filed in California federal court, the lawsuit accuses Ticketmaster, a subsidiary of Live Nation, of sweeping violations of the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, or BOTS Act. The FTC has jurisdiction over the 2016 law, which bans the use of bots to buy tickets in bulk – a common tactic that allows resellers to jack up prices.  

The complaint accuses Ticketmaster of misleading customers by listing deceptively low ticket prices when customers search for events on its website – only to jack up prices at checkout with mandatory fees that sometimes reach 30% or more of the initial price.

The FTC also accused Ticketmaster of allowing third-party brokers to exceed ticket purchase limits set meant to ensure fair access to popular events, even as they publicly claimed the limits were being enforced. As a result, customers have no choice but to pay inflated prices on the secondary market if they want to attend.

“It should not cost an arm and a leg to take the family to a baseball game, or attend your favorite musician’s show,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement. “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.”

The FTC filed the lawsuit after settlement talks between Ferguson’s office and Ticketmaster officials went nowhere last week, a source close to the situation.

The lawsuit was a direct result of President Trump’s executive order in March instructing the agency to set up enforcement of the BOTS Act, the source added.

Trump signed the order at an Oval Office event alongside musician Kid Rock, who has called for a crackdown on scalpers who sell tickets “sometimes a 500 percent markup.”

From 2019 to 2024, customers spent more than $82.6 billion on tickets brokered by Ticketmaster, according to the FTC.

The FTC’s lawsuit alleges that Ticketmaster is incentivized to allow the bot activity because it profits from fees and markups when the tickets are resold on its platform. The company is also accused of failing to deploy better technology to crack down on bots because doing so would decrease revenue.

“This case would not have happened without President Donald Trump’s leadership,” FTC spokesman Joe Simonson said in a statement. “Other politicians talk about helping out ordinary Americans, but this President means it. Americans deserve a fair price when they want to go to a baseball game or hear some live music, and the Trump-Vance FTC is working to make that happen.”

Live Nation has publicly expressed support for the Trump-led crackdown on higher prices, saying in a statement in March that it supports “any meaningful resale reforms — including more enforcement of the BOTS act, caps on resale prices, and more.”

Lawmakers from both parties have called for a crackdown on Ticketmaster in recent years amid an online uproar over surging ticket prices and alleged predatory practices. The company has been singled out because it controls a massive share – up to 70% to 80%, according to some experts – of the primary ticket sale market.

In recent years, Ticketmaster was crushed by critics for mishandling sales of Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour,” with Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn calling Live Nation’s inability to deal with its bot problem “unbelievable.” The incident sparked a wave of lawsuits from disgruntled “Swifties.”

Last year, the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing Live Nation of operating an illegal monopoly and seeking to break up its control of Ticketmaster.

In August, the FTC sued ticket reseller Key Investment Group for allegedly using bots to snap up tickets to popular events, including Swift concerts, and resell them at high prices. Key has denied wrongdoing and said both it and Ticketmaster comply with the BOTS Act.