Scott Mann MP has joined a cross-party campaign to ban the use of bots and the Fan Fair Alliance’s 'Touts Out' campaign to protect consumers buying tickets.
The amendment, which will be debated during Report Stage of the Digital Economy Bill, has been tabled by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and supported by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Music and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ticket Abuse. If accepted by a majoroty of MPs, the amendment would ban the use of bots.
As part of the cross-party campaign, Scott Mann MP joined Sharon Hodgson MP, Nigel Adams MP, other Parliamentary colleagues and famous faces, such as Josh Franceschi, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child producer Sonia Friedman and Imogen Heap, for a photo call to support the amendment and the Fan Fair Alliance “Touts Out” campaign.
Scott Mann said:
“We all know that touts can rip off fans and lock them out of seeing their favourite artists, sports team or theatre show and make huge profits through marked-up ticket prices.
“There is a lot that can be done to ensure fans are put first in this market, through improved enforcement of the Consumer Rights Act’s transparency measures and implementation of the recommendations of the Waterson Review into secondary ticketing. The ban the bots amendment will complement the work already done and what the cross-party campaign is pushing for, and I hope that it passes today.”