Secondary ticketing platform Viagogo has been dealt another major blow as Google has today (July 17) announced the suspension of the platform’s advertising.
Today’s move by Google follows the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) decision a few weeks ago to prepare contempt of court proceedings against secondary ticketing site Viagogo.
The CMA initiated legal proceedings against Viagogo in September 2018 in the UK High Court following an investigation into the secondary ticketing sector.
The CMA then obtained a High Court judgement in November 2018 ordering Viagogo “to overhaul the way it does business”.
UK Music CEO Michael Dugher has welcomed the decision by Google to suspend Viagogo as an advertiser.
“This is an important victory for campaigners including UK Music, FanFair Alliance, Culture Minister Margot James and cross-party MPs like Nigel Adams and Sharon Hodgeson.”
Michael Dugher, UK Music
UK Music CEO Michael Dugher said: “UK Music has long urged everyone to say no to Viagogo. We are delighted that Google is finally bowing to public pressure and taking action.
“Google is the first port of call when most music fans search for tickets and they have a responsibility to ensure its customers are not misled into paying over the odds for gigs and festivals.
“This is an important victory for campaigners including UK Music, FanFair Alliance, Culture Minister Margot James and cross-party MPs like Nigel Adams and Sharon Hodgeson.
“This development and further legal proceedings against Viagogo marks a huge turning point in the battle to tackle exploitative touts.”
“This is a landmark moment, and a major step forward to preventing exploitation of audiences in the secondary ticketing market.”
Adam Webb, FanFair Alliance
Adam Webb, Campaign Manager, FanFair Alliance, added: “This is a landmark moment, and a major step forward to preventing exploitation of audiences in the secondary ticketing market.
“After publishing extensive research highlighting the impacts of Viagogo’s misleading search advertising, FanFair Alliance has been in constructive conversations with Google for over two years in an attempt to address this issue.
“We are delighted they have finally acted and suspended Viagogo’s advertising. We now hope other platforms, particularly Facebook, can follow Google’s example.”Music Business Worldwide
No comments:
Post a Comment