(Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Live Nation’s Ticketmaster is doing enough to prevent bots from illegally reselling tickets on its platform, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
The probe, which examines the ticket-selling unit’s compliance with the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, is at an advanced stage and a decision on whether to pursue a case could come within weeks, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The 2016 law prohibits the use of bots and other methods to bypass ticket purchase limits set by online sellers.
As part of the probe, FTC investigators are assessing whether Ticketmaster has a financial incentive to allow resellers to circumvent its ticket limit rules, according to the report.
A settlement is also possible, Bloomberg reported. If the FTC pursues a case and Live Nation loses, the company could face billions of dollars in penalties, as the law permits fines of up to $53,000 per violation.
The scrutiny, which began under former FTC Chair Lina Khan’s tenure, gained momentum during the Trump administration and escalated following Taylor Swift’s Eras tour ticketing debacle in 2022, according to the report.
The FTC declined to comment, while Live Nation did not immediately respond when contacted by Reuters.
In May, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at protecting fans from “exploitative ticket scalping” and reforming the live entertainment ticketing industry.
Separately, the Justice Department and state attorneys general sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster last year for allegedly monopolizing the live concert industry in ways that hurt artists and fans.
In August, the FTC sued ticket reseller Key Investment Group, accusing it of evading purchase limits to acquire thousands of tickets for events, including Swift’s Eras tour, and reselling them at inflated prices.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
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