GOOGLE has confirmed it will abide by any rulings made by a parliamentary inquiry into live music and the secondary ticketing industry.
The technology giant has been urged by MPs and event bodies to stop accepting advertising business from ticket platform Viagogo over claims the site is breaking several aspects of consumer law.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has brought legal action against the firm following its own investigation into Viagogo’s business practices.
In response to a letter sent to Google executives last week citing concerns about Viagogo that has been signed by MPs, as well as trade body UK Music, the tech firm said it would monitor developments.
“The CMA has been looking at the business practices of ticket resellers,” a Google spokeswoman said.
“We await the conclusion of these inquiries and we hope that they will clarify the rules in the interests of consumers. We will abide by the rulings of these enquiries and local law.
“In February, we updated
our policies to ensure that resellers cannot claim to be official providers of tickets and that they must be transparent about their price, fees and taxes before requiring payment.”
The letter to Google claims Viagogo’s prominence in search results due to advertising could be leading consumers to buy tickets for live events at marked-up
prices when face value tickets were still on sale elsewhere.
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