Live Nation calls FTC’s BOTS Act lawsuit ‘misguided,’ says agency is trying to ‘flip the Act on its head’
Live Nation and Ticketmaster have denied the US Federal Trade Commission’s claims that Ticketmaster knowingly let ticket brokers evade artists’ purchase limits and then profited from resales. In their court filing, the companies call the lawsuit “misguided” and argue that the FTC is applying the BOTS Act, a law intended to target ticket scalpers, against ticketing companies that try to stop them.
The FTC and seven states sued in September 2025, alleging brokers used large numbers of accounts to buy beyond ticket limits and that Ticketmaster charged fees at both the original sale and resale, as well as to resale buyers. The complaint also challenges the disclosure of mandatory fees and claims about enforcement of ticket limits; it says consumers paid more than $16.4 billion in mandatory fees from 2019 to 2024, including $3.7 billion on resale tickets. A judge rejected Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s request to dismiss the case, but said the court had not determined whether the allegations were true.
- Live Nation and Ticketmaster deny the FTC’s allegations.
- The case concerns ticket limits, resale fees and price disclosures.
- A judge allowed the lawsuit to proceed without deciding the claims.
Both sides, in good faith
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The case for
The FTC and the states can argue that ticket purchase limits mean little if brokers can evade them at scale, while Ticketmaster allegedly collects fees on both the initial sale and resale. Enforcing the BOTS Act and requiring clear fee disclosures could protect fans from unfair practices and make ticket limits more effective.
The case against
Live Nation and Ticketmaster can argue that the BOTS Act targets scalpers who use technology to bypass ticket controls, and that applying it to ticketing companies trying to combat those practices stretches the law beyond its purpose. They can also contend that the allegations remain unproven and that resale fees and ticket-limit enforcement should be assessed on the evidence, rather than treated as proof of a violation.