A federal judge in California has cleared the path for the Federal Trade Commission’s BOTS Act case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster to proceed into discovery. Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong of the Central District of California denied Ticketmaster’s motion to dismiss, rejecting the argument that the BOTS Act targets only individual resellers and not platforms. “The BOTS Act does not preclude platforms from facing liability, and the court will not read it as doing so,” she wrote, according to Pollstar’s October 1 report on the Monday ruling.
The September 2026 complaint, joined by attorneys general from Virginia, Utah, Florida, Tennessee, Nebraska, Illinois, and Colorado, alleges Ticketmaster and Live Nation “tacitly worked” with secondary sellers who bulk-buy tickets and relist them at markups — often back on Ticketmaster itself. The FTC cites an internal email in which a senior Ticketmaster executive allegedly said the companies “turn a blind eye as a matter of policy,” and claims five brokers controlled 6,345 accounts holding 246,407 tickets across 2,594 events.
Prosecutors also argue the companies dialed back tools that would enforce purchase limits — including rejecting third-party identity verification in 2021 as “too effective” — because stricter controls would cut revenue. The suit seeks injunctive relief under the FTC Act, the BOTS Act, and state consumer laws, plus monetary relief and BOTS Act fines. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said live entertainment “should not cost an arm and a leg” for ordinary fans.
Image: Ticketmaster / Live Nation ticketing — Aitor Diago / Getty Images / Pollstar — https://news.pollstar.com/2026/10/01/bots-act-applies-to-ticketmaster-judge-rules-allowing-prosecution-to-continue/