Judge Says FTC BOTS Act Case Against Reseller Can Proceed

A Maryland federal judge has refused to dismiss the FTC’s BOTS Act case against a ticket reseller, so the enforcement action will move forward.

What the judge decided

• The court denied the reseller’s motion to dismiss one of the FTC’s first online ticketing enforcement cases.

• The judge held that the FTC’s complaint plausibly alleges violations of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act and related laws, so the case can proceed to discovery and further litigation on the merits.

Who is involved and what’s alleged

• The FTC sued a Maryland-based ticket broker operation that runs multiple resale sites, accusing it of using unlawful tactics to bypass ticket limits and other controls on primary ticketing platforms such as Ticketmaster, including for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and other high‑demand concerts.

• According to the FTC, the defendants used large numbers of accounts and technical workarounds to exceed posted limits on how many tickets one person can buy, then resold those tickets at significant markups.

Why the BOTS Act still applies without “bots”

• Coverage reports note that the judge rejected the reseller’s argument that they are immune because they did not use automated software “bots,” and instead used human users with digital tools.

• The BOTS Act makes it unlawful to “circumvent a security measure, access control system, or other technological control or measure” used by a ticket seller to enforce limits, and the court accepted the FTC’s theory that this language is not limited to classic automated bots.

Why this matters going forward

• This ruling signals that courts may interpret the BOTS Act broadly, reaching a range of circumvention tactics (fake or mass accounts, IP‑spoofing, multi‑SIM setups) even when a reseller claims it is not using literal bots.

• It strengthens the FTC’s hand not only in this Maryland case but also in its broader campaign against alleged ticketing abuses, including its separate lawsuit against Live Nation/Ticketmaster that also invokes the BOTS Act.