In November, millions of Taylor Swift fans logged on to Ticketmaster to grab tickets for her 2023 tour. However, the site crashed, rendering verified users unable to purchase. Ticketmaster's parent company, Live Nation, explained that while 1.5 million people had signed up as legit customers, over 14 million hit the site when tickets went on sale – many of which were bots.
Live Nation president and CFO Joe Berchtold told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that the company "learned valuable lessons" from the Swift debacle. Three senators shoehorned in Taylor Swift quotes into their statements and questions – which I loved.
Berchtold called for Congress to expand the BOTS Act to "increase enforcement." Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal reminded Berchtold there are already legal options for going after scalpers using bots to procure tickets. "You have unlimited power to go to court," Blumenthal said. "Your approach seems to be that everyone else is responsible here."
– Mat Smith