Google to impose tough new restrictions on ticket resale companies
Internet giant Google is ready to impose new and tougher restrictions on ticket resale companies, in a move aiming to prevent fans paying incredibly high prices to buy tickets on websites such as Viagogo and StubHub. Indeed, ticket resale companies will be barred from claiming to be an “official” source of tickets in Google results when they are actually selling them secondhand.
From March 2018, Google will also ask resale platforms to disclose in a prominent position on their site if their ticket prices are higher than face value, so that buyers are aware of the chance to buy somewhere else at lower prices.
Resale sites will also have to be certified by Google before they can use its AdWords service, which lets companies pay to appear at the top of its rankings.