Google is on the wrong end of a new court ruling in France over advertisements for unauthorised secondary ticketing services.
It relates to an older ruling from 2020 that barred Google from allowing platforms like Viagogo and StubHub to buy ads. Google appealed, but now the Paris Court of Appeals has knocked that back, while fining Google an additional €300k to boot.
Anti-touting organisation FEAT welcomed the news, while pointing to the context that since 2012 it has been against the law in France to sell (or enable the selling of) event tickets without their organisers’ approval.
“Rightfully, a lot of fans’ anger gets focused on the resale platforms themselves, but Google is a major player in steering people away from face value tickets sold by the primary seller, even when there are still tickets available,” said FEAT director Sam Shemtob.
French union PRODISS has also hailed the ruling. “After several previous decisions against illegal platforms over the last years, this is another step in the right direction to ensure a fair, safe, and legal process for ticket sales in France,” said CEO Malika Séguineau.
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