Technology / 11.11.20

French Court Holds Google Liable for Advertising Tickets Without Permission

Access Staff

Pollstar (11/05/20) Gottfried, Gideon

A French court has banned Google from selling keywords to advertisers that sell or resell event tickets without permission from rights holders, as it violates the French Criminal Code. The ads cited in the decision were for tickets on websites including viagogo.fr, stubhub.fr, and rocket-ticket.com, which used Google AdWords to appear on top of ticket searches without event promoter PRODISS's authorization. PRODISS said the court held Google Ireland liable for cultivating a parallel market "particularly harmful to producers and organizers" of shows. Google also was deemed liable for reputational damage to live events professionals, as consumers may have been wrongly led to believe that rights holders benefit from the artificial inflation in prices generated by placing tickets on the indicated sites. The decision was lauded by the European Alliance against for-profit ticket resale, as it affirmed "the active role taken by advertising platforms" in the for-profit resale process. The alliance stated that "they must accept responsibility for their role in facilitating illegal activity." The group further expects the ruling to prevent fans from purchasing unauthorized tickets once live events return after the COVID-19 pandemic, as Google Ads will no longer encourage them to buy from for-profit resellers.

Read the full story from Pollstar. 

Tags: News , Leadership