FTC Pushes Back on Ticketmaster’s Attempt to Use Its Own Policies to Dismiss BOTS Act Case

Federal regulators are pushing back against Ticketmaster’s attempt to short‑circuit the Federal Trade Commission’s BOTS Act lawsuit at the earliest stage, arguing the company is wrongly asking the court to treat Ticketmaster’s own public-facing policy statements as undisputed fact.

In a filing submitted this week (embedded below), the FTC and seven state attorneys general urged the court to reject Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment’s request to rely heavily on Ticketmaster’s purchase and resale policies in evaluating the company’s motion to dismiss. The response does not reargue the merits of the BOTS Act claims, but instead goes after the procedural foundation of Ticketmaster’s defense.

Challenging Ticketmaster’s Core Narrative

As TicketNews previously reported, Ticketmaster’s motion to dismiss hinges on the argument that the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act was designed to regulate scalpers and resellers, not ticketing platforms themselves. Central to that theory is Ticketmaster’s claim that it does not “sell or offer to sell” resale tickets, but simply provides a marketplace for third‑party transactions.

To reinforce that point, Ticketmaster attached excerpts from its own Purchase Policy, arguing that the language “confirms” its role as a neutral intermediary.

The FTC says that approach asks the court to do something it cannot do at the motion‑to‑dismiss stage: accept Ticketmaster’s self‑characterization as fact while sidelining the factual allegations in the complaint.

Judicial notice, the FTC notes, allows a court to acknowledge that a document exists — not to accept the truth of the statements within it, especially when regulators explicitly dispute those statements.

In its filing, the FTC warns that Ticketmaster is attempting to “short‑circuit” standard pleading rules by using incorporation-by-reference and judicial notice to resolve contested issues before discovery even begins.

The complaint alleges that Ticketmaster plays a far more active role in the resale ecosystem than the company admits — including controlling access, managing the resale infrastructure, and collecting fees on each transaction. Whether that behavior qualifies as “selling or offering to sell” under the BOTS Act, the FTC argues, is a fact-driven question that cannot be settled simply by citing Ticketmaster’s own policy language.

The FTC also challenges Ticketmaster’s attempt to introduce large swaths of its Purchase Policy based on narrow references in the complaint. Regulators say their references were specific to ticket-limit provisions — not the entire document — and that Ticketmaster is using those citations as a pretext to inject unrelated language helpful to its defense.

In a pointed footnote, the FTC undercuts Ticketmaster’s reliance on its Purchase Policy by noting that the version submitted with the motion — marked effective January 1, 2021 — is no longer current.

Ticketmaster updated its Purchase Policy in August 2025, according to the filing, meaning the version cited “has not been in effect for several months.” While the FTC doesn’t detail how the updated policy differs, the observation raises questions about whether Ticketmaster is relying on outdated language to frame its legal arguments.

The FTC’s response comes amid a growing focus on BOTS Act enforcement actions. As TicketNews has reported, ticket brokers in other cases — most notably the Key Investment Group matter — have argued that if Ticketmaster’s systems allowed a purchase to go through, then no unlawful circumvention occurred.

Ticketmaster now advances a similar theory from the platform side: that its failure to enforce ticket limits means there can be no violation. Regulators appear determined to block that reasoning from gaining traction before the case develops a factual record.

The FTC’s filing does not resolve whether Ticketmaster’s conduct violates the BOTS Act. Instead, it seeks to ensure that the court evaluates the motion to dismiss based on the complaint’s allegations — not on Ticketmaster’s preferred description of its own role in the ticketing marketplace.

A hearing on Ticketmaster’s motion to dismiss is scheduled for February 19 before U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong. A ruling in Ticketmaster’s favor could significantly narrow the case before any evidence is exchanged. A ruling against the company would send the dispute into a far more consequential discovery phase.

For now, the FTC’s message is clear: Ticketmaster should not be permitted to define the boundaries of federal consumer protection law simply by pointing to its own terms and conditions.

FTC Motion: