The BOTS act of 2016, or the Better Online Ticket Sales Act of 2016, is an act of Congress designed to provide legal penalties against people who misuse online ticket sales platforms. In particular, the act prohibits trying to get around posted ticket limits on online sales platforms such as Ticketmaster. Furthermore, the act makes provisions for the FTC and state attorney generals to investigate and prosecute individuals and companies who violate the rules outlined in the legislation for significant civil penalties, with the provision of such prosecutions deferring to the FTC rather than state attorney generals. The act does however make provisions to exonerate people who simply seek to test the system for the purpose of reporting vulnerabilities to the companies managing ticket sales platforms.
