Earlier this year, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) set a deadline for secondary-ticketing sites to improve the information they provided about tickets listed for resale. Most complied, but Viagogo has been under scrutiny on this point: on 24 January, the CMA raised concerns and told the company to “make any necessary changes without delay”.
A month and a bit on, how has that gone? Not so well. “The CMA has today warned Viagogo it is still not compliant with the court order we secured, requiring improved information be displayed about the tickets listed for resale on its site,” announced the CMA yesterday. “Although some improvements have been made since we first demanded action to address areas of non-compliance, further checks have shown there are still issues of concern. For a company not to comply with a court order is clearly very serious. We are therefore now preparing to take legal action to ask a court to find Viagogo in contempt.”
Anti-touting campaign group FanFair Alliance has welcomed the news. “We also share concerns about Viagogo’s compliancy with its court order, and that the site continues to facilitate large-scale breaches of consumer law. All UK music fans should avoid this site,” said its campaign manager Adam Webb.
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