President Barack Obama Signs Law Making Ticket-Buying Bots Illegal
It’s also now illegal to resell bot-bought tickets.
Have you ever waited online at Ticketmaster for days only to see tickets get sold out seconds? Those days will soon be no more. The White House announced Thursday that President Barack Obama has signed a law that makes the use of ticket buying bots illegal in the U.S. The POTUS signed the “Better Online Ticket Sales Act of 2016” (aka the “BOTS Act”) on Wednesday, and the law “prohibits the circumvention of control measures used by Internet ticket sellers to ensure equitable consumer access to tickets for certain events,” according to the White House Press Secretary. Bots are often utilized to bypass rules by purchasing more than the maximum amount of tickets, skipping the line or filling out CAPTCHAs intended to stop bots. In addition to banning the usage of bots, it is also now illegal to resell tickets bought using a bot. Those who bought a ticket knowing that it was purchased by a bot are liable to punishment.
