FTC And States Sue Ticketmaster Alleging Consumer Deception And Profiteering

Benzinga

The US Federal Trade Commission and seven states filed a lawsuit Thursday against Live Nation Entertainment and its Ticketmaster unit, according to Bloomberg. The FTC alleged Ticketmaster failed to enforce ticket limits and ignored brokers who bypassed them because the company profited from resales. The FTC also said that Ticketmaster misrepresented ticket availability and deceived consumers with hidden fees, allowing brokers to bypass limits and resell tickets at steep markups. Regulators allege Ticketmaster “triple dipped” by collecting fees on both original and resale transactions, totaling $11 billion between 2019 and 2024. The FTC increased its scrutiny of ticket sales after a Trump administration order in March directed it to prioritize Better Online Ticket Sales Act enforcement.

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00:00It's Benzinga bringing Wall Street to Main Street.

00:02U.S. Federal Trade Commission in seven states filed a lawsuit Thursday against Live Nation Entertainment

00:06and its Ticketmaster unit, and according to Bloomberg,

00:09the FTC alleged Ticketmaster failed to enforce ticket limits

00:12and ignored brokers who bypassed them because the company profited from resales.

00:16The FTC also said the Ticketmaster misrepresented ticket availability

00:19and deceived consumers with hidden fees,

00:22allowing brokers to bypass limits and resale tickets at steep markups.

00:25The FTC alleged Ticketmaster triple-dipped by collecting fees on both original and resale transactions,

00:32totaling $11 billion between 2019 and 2024.

00:35The FTC increased its scrutiny of ticket sales after a Trump administration order in March

00:39directed to prioritize Better Online Ticket Sales Act enforcement.

00:43For all things money, visit Benzinga.com.

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