WASHINGTON D.C. (CelebrityAccess) — On Monday, the White House announced that U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at protecting Americans from exploitative ticket scalping and bringing reform to the ticketing industry.
The President’s order directs the Federal Trade Commission to:
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Work with the Attorney General to ensure that competition laws are appropriately enforced in the concert and entertainment industry.
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Enforce the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act and promote its enforcement by state consumer protection authorities.
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Ensure price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process, including the secondary ticketing market.
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Evaluate and, if appropriate, take enforcement action to prevent unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive conduct in the secondary ticketing market.
Additionally, the order calls for the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General to ensure that ticketing companies operate in compliance with the law. It also directs the U.S. Treasury, the Department of Justice, and the FTC to deliver a report summarizing their actions within 180 days.
Notably, the order does not appear to address the issue of secondary market pricing, which makes the business attractive to speculators, nor does it provide additional rules or enforcement mechanisms beyond existing laws.
Following the announcement of the executive order, Live Nation expressed support for the measure.
“Scalpers and bots prevent fans from getting tickets at the prices artists set, and we thank President Trump for taking them head-on. We support any meaningful resale reforms—including more enforcement of the BOTS Act, caps on resale prices, and more,” a spokesperson for Live Nation said in a statement.
See Bob Lefsetz’ take here: https://celebrityaccess.com/2025/04/01/the-lefsetz-letter-trumps-ticketing-order/
