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S196FEDERAL
High Impact

MAIN Event Ticketing Act

September 2, 2025

consumer protectioninternet commercecybersecurityevent ticketingfederal regulation

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The Frame

What this does

The bill establishes new legal obligations for online ticket platforms to protect their systems from automated 'bot' attacks, with potential civil penalties of at least $10,000 per day for non-compliance, directly impacting how ticket issuers manage site security and consumer data.

Who is mentioned in the record

Potentially affected actors named in the source documents. Mention is not a position.

Online ticket issuers

Must implement new security safeguards, report circumvention incidents, and face potential civil penalties for non-compliance.

Federal Trade Commission

Tasked with creating a reporting website, issuing compliance guidance, and enforcing the new civil penalty provisions.

State attorneys general

Will receive shared reports and consumer complaints from the FTC regarding ticket purchasing violations.

What changed

Last recorded activity September 2, 2025.

What's next

Introduced.

Summary

This bill updates the 2016 BOTS Act to impose stricter security and reporting requirements on online ticket sellers to prevent the use of automated software for bulk ticket purchases. It mandates that ticket issuers implement robust security safeguards, report known incidents to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and coordinate with law enforcement regarding cyberattacks.

Key Facts

You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is considered 'circumvention' under this bill?
is defined as the act of avoiding, bypassing, removing, deactivating, or otherwise impairing an , security measure, or other technological control used by a ticket issuer.
How much can a company be fined for violating these rules?
Violators face a civil penalty of at least $10,000 per day for each day the violation occurs, plus at least $1,000 per violation. Intentional violations carry an additional penalty of at least $10,000 per violation.
Do ticket issuers have to report bot attacks?
Yes, ticket issuers must report any incident of of which they have actual knowledge to the FTC within 30 days of discovery.

Why It Matters

The bill establishes new legal obligations for online ticket platforms to protect their systems from automated 'bot' attacks, with potential civil penalties of at least $10,000 per day for non-compliance, directly impacting how ticket issuers manage site security and consumer data.

News Coverage

No news coverage found yet. Articles are indexed twice daily.

Sponsors

Discoveries

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.

policy shift100% confidence

Shift to Mandatory Reporting

The bill moves from simply prohibiting bot usage to requiring active security maintenance and mandatory incident reporting by ticket issuers.

Federal Trade CommissionOnline ticket issuers

Connected Entities

organizationCommittee on Energy and CommerceMap →
personMrs. BlackburnMap →
organizationFederal Bureau of InvestigationMap →
personMr. CruzMap →
organizationCommittee on Commerce, Science, and TransportationMap →
organizationFederal Trade CommissionMap →
personMr. LujánMap →

Analysis Score

0–100
  • Significance75
    How much this matters to a regular citizen
  • Controversy40
    Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
  • Entertainment10
    Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
  • Buzz30
    Current news / social attention level

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