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Tout selling £1million of U2 tickets has raised questions about clampdown on bot use for bulk-buying
A ticket seller advertised more than £1 million worth of tickets for U2’s four London stadium shows, prompting renewed questions about bulk buying and ticket resale rules. The concerts sold out shortly after going on sale, and the scale of the listings has raised concerns about whether bots or speculative selling were involved, though neither has been confirmed.
An investigation found more than 2,000 tickets listed on StubHub, including over 1,800 for one night, with some priced at more than four times face value. Using bots to evade purchase limits has been illegal in the UK since 2018; StubHub says it prohibits speculative selling and bots, while Ticketmaster says it blocks 20 billion bots each month. A proposed UK ban on reselling tickets above face value has not yet become law.
In short
- More than 2,000 U2 tickets appeared on StubHub.
- Listings could exceed £1 million if sold.
- UK plans to ban profit-making resale are not yet law.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
A ban on reselling tickets above face value could make popular concerts fairer and more accessible by reducing the rewards for bulk buying and deterring bots or speculative listings. Supporters may argue that purchase limits are undermined when large numbers of tickets quickly appear at several times the original price, and that clearer rules would help fans and enforce existing protections.
The case against
Opponents may argue that resale is a legitimate way for people who can no longer attend to recoup costs, and that a strict price cap could push sales into less visible channels or make enforcement harder. They may favour stronger enforcement against bots and misleading speculative listings, while cautioning that the scale of these listings alone does not establish that either occurred.