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Ticketmaster Challenges FTC Lawsuit, Says Anti-Bot Law Targets Resellers

By  |  January 7, 2026

Ticketmaster is asking a federal judge in Los Angeles to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, arguing that the law at the center of the case does not apply to ticketing platforms, according to Reuters.

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    In court filings submitted late Tuesday, Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, urged U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong to throw out the case. The companies contend that the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act is aimed at curbing misconduct by ticket resellers, not companies that issue or distribute tickets, per Reuters.

    The FTC, along with seven U.S. states, sued Ticketmaster and Live Nation in September. Regulators allege the companies allowed ticket brokers to flout artist-imposed limits on ticket purchases, enabling large-scale resale activity that generated about $3.7 billion in fees between 2019 and 2024, according to Reuters. The lawsuit also claims Ticketmaster has been aware since at least 2018 that resellers were violating its ticket limit policies.

    The BOTS Act, passed in 2016, prohibits the use of software or other technological means to bypass safeguards that ticketing platforms use to prevent mass purchases for resale. It also bans selling tickets obtained through such circumvention. Ticketmaster argues that because third-party resellers, rather than the company itself, sell tickets on its resale marketplace, it cannot be held liable under the statute, according to Reuters. The company also maintains that regulators have not demonstrated that its ticket purchase limits qualify as protected measures under the law.

    Related: Ticketmaster Hit With Fresh Antitrust Challenge From Former Startup

    Ticketmaster remains the dominant force in U.S. live event ticketing, controlling as much as 80% of concert ticket sales at major venues, based on an estimate cited by the FTC and reported by Reuters.

    The company has faced heightened scrutiny in recent years, particularly following its troubled 2022 ticket rollout for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. During that sale, overwhelming demand from fans, automated bots, and resellers inundated Ticketmaster’s systems, leading the company to cancel a planned general public sale, according to Reuters.

    Meanwhile, Live Nation and Ticketmaster are preparing for a separate legal battle. The companies are scheduled to go to trial in March in a Department of Justice case accusing them of monopolizing various segments of the live concert industry. Both companies have denied those allegations, per Reuters.

    Source: Reuters