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Google rolls out tests that block news content for some users in Canada

Google has launched tests that block access to news content for some users in Canada in response to the Canadian government’s online news bill. Bill C-18, or the Online News Act, would require platforms like Facebook and Google to negotiate deals that would pay news publishers for their content. The bill is currently before the Canadian Senate for debate.
The company told TechCrunch that the tests impact “a small percentage” of Canadian users. The tests limit the visibility of Canadian and international news, and affect all types of news content.
“We’re briefly testing potential product responses to Bill C-18 that impact a very small percentage of Canadian users,” a spokesperson for the company told TechCrunch in an email. We run thousands of tests each year to assess any potential changes to Search. We’ve been fully transparent about our concern that C-18 is overly broad and, if unchanged, could impact products Canadians use and rely on every day. We remain committed to supporting a sustainable future for news in Canada and offering solutions that fix Bill C-18.”
Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said on Twitter that Canadians won’t be intimidated by the tests and that tech giants need to be more transparent and accountable.

It’s disappointing to hear that Google is trying to block access to news sites. Canadians won’t be intimidated. At the end of the day, all we’re asking the tech giants to do is compensate journalists when they use their work. (1/2) https://t.co/11iRMA9jpL
— Pablo Rodriguez (@pablorodriguez) February 23, 2023

“It’s disappointing to hear that Google is trying to block access to news sites,” Rodriguez said in a tweet. “Canadians won’t be intimidated. At the end of the day, all we’re asking the tech giants to do is compensate journalists when they use their work. That’s why we introduced the Online News Act. Tech giants need to be more transparent and accountable to Canadians.”
Last year, Facebook threatened to block the sharing of Canadian news content unless the government amended legislation that would force digital platforms to pay news publishers. In 2021, Facebook briefly restricted users in Australia from sharing or viewing news links on the platform due to similar legislation. Google is now borrowing from the Meta-owned company’s playbook.
The move from Google doesn’t mark the first time that the company has opposed Canadian legislation. Last year, Google expressed concerns with Bill C-11, or the Online Streaming Act. The bill would force platforms like Google-owned YouTube to more prominently feature Canadian content. Google argued that the bill would negatively affect creators and viewers, and limit content discoverability. The Canadian Senate recently passed the bill with dozens of amendments, and it will be reviewed by the House of Commons.
A few months ago, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai issued a statement noting that the online news and streaming bills discriminate against American businesses. The U.S. government has also raised concerns about the trade implications of the bills.
Google rolls out tests that block news content for some users in Canada by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch
Google rolls out tests that block news content for some users in Canada

Senate questions Live Nation president amid Taylor Swift ticketing debacle

“May I suggest respectfully that Ticketmaster ought to look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m the problem, it’s me,’” Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said on the Senate floor Tuesday, referencing Taylor Swift’s latest hit “Anti-Hero.” In a hearing on consumer protection and competition in live entertainment, senators grilled Live Nation CFO and president Joe Berchtold over concerns that the company, which bought Ticketmaster in 2010, may be a monopoly.
In November, the “verified fan” presale for Swift’s highly anticipated Eras tour went horribly wrong. In an unprecedented move, Ticketmaster halted sales due to overwhelming demand, stating that the site experienced 3.5 billion system requests, or more than four times its previous peak, due to bot attacks. A month later, Mexican regulators fined Ticketmaster when thousands of fans were turned away from a Bad Bunny concert, despite holding tickets purchased on Ticketmaster (regulators said the company oversold tickets, but Ticketmaster said these were fake tickets).
After years of paying hidden fees and losing tickets to scalpers, fans and regulators alike have had enough. Making yet another of many Swift references, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said that music and sports fans now understand the risks of corporate consolidation “all too well.” And as Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan said at the time of the Swift ticketing fiasco, the incident “converted more Gen Z’ers into antimonopolists overnight than anything I could have done.”
When the government investigated the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation over twelve years ago, the Justice Department reported that the combined company would control 80% of major concert venues. When questioned under oath on Tuesday, Berchtold said he believes the company actually controls around 50% to 60% of that market, due to the rise of secondary resale markets on sites like SeatGeek (whose founder and CEO, Jack Groetzinger, testified at the hearing as well). Still, Ticketmaster sells tickets for 80 of the top 100 arenas in the country, while Live Nation can sometimes operate as the promoter, owner and operator of that same venue.
The arrangement is bad for fans, who might watch as their favorite artist sells out an arena show in seconds, only for thousands of bot-purchased tickets to be immediately reposted for double the price. But it also harms the musicians.
Testifying before the Senate, independent musician Clyde Lawrence said, “In a world where the promoter and the venue are not affiliated with each other, we can trust that the promoter will look to get the best deal from the venue; however, in this case, the promoter and the venue are part of the same corporate entity, so the line items are essentially Live Nation negotiating to pay itself.” Lawrence added that artists get no cut of ticketing fees, coat checks, parking passes or bar tabs, while Live Nation takes 20% of their revenue from merch sales. If he plays a show where tickets cost $42, including fees, Lawrence said his band would get $12. After putting half of that toward touring costs, the band receives $6 per ticket in profit, which is split up among all of its members, pretax.
The Justice Department had approved this merger in 2010 with the condition of a consent decree, which was intended to prevent Live Nation and Ticketmaster from acting too much like a monopoly. But in 2019, Justice officials alleged that the company violated the agreement, since Live Nation had pressured venues to sign contracts with Ticketmaster. As a result, the decree — which was set to expire that year — was extended to remain in effect until 2025, including some modifications.
Now, in light of the Swift snafu, the department is investigating Live Nation again.
“If the Department of Justice establishes facts that involve monopolistic and predatory abuses, there ought to be structural remedies, such as breaking up the company,” Blumenthal said at Tuesday’s hearing. “We’ll see what the Department of Justice finds.”
Some senators proposed potential solutions to the problem.
Passed under the Obama administration in 2016, the Better Online Ticket Sales Act (aptly named, the BOTS Act) gives the FTC license to crack down on bot-driven ticket resale firms. Senator Blumenthal and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) argued that, in the same vein, the FTC needs to pressure Live Nation to figure out its bot problem.
“There ought to be people you can get some good advice from, because our critical infrastructure in this country — whether it is utilities, electric, water, power, banking services, credit card processors, payment processors, healthcare companies — you know what, they get bot attacks every single day, by the thousands and thousands, and they have figured it out but you guys haven’t,” Senator Blackburn said.
The BOTS Act has only been enforced one time since 2016, when the FTC charged three ticket brokers with over $31 million in penalties in 2021.
“We have a limited level of power on something that hasn’t been consistently enforced,” Berchtold testified.
Senator Blumenthal retorted, “You have unlimited power to go to court.”
Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) suggested that Live Nation make tickets nontransferable in order to prevent bot resales. The witnesses were quiet for a moment, and Kennedy said, sarcastically, “Don’t all jump in at once.” The proposal might make simple conveniences difficult, like buying two tickets and sending one to a friend, or selling a ticket if you get sick before a show; plus, it could encourage sales of fraudulent tickets. Groetzinger, who operates a major resale site, said he would not support such a policy; Berchtold said he would.
The committee’s path forward to hold Live Nation accountable is unclear, but the Department of Justice’s investigation of Live Nation is ongoing.

Ticketmaster faces antitrust scrutiny after Taylor Swift ticket chaos

Mexican regulators are fining Ticketmaster after Bad Bunny concert fiasco

Senate questions Live Nation president amid Taylor Swift ticketing debacle by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch
Senate questions Live Nation president amid Taylor Swift ticketing debacle

Ticketmaster faces antitrust scrutiny after Taylor Swift ticket chaos

Ticketmaster is facing more scrutiny from politicians after its chaotic presales for tickets to Taylor Swift’s tour. Tennessee attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti said he is looking into whether Ticketmaster violated consumers’ rights and antitrust regulations. Skrmetti is the latest politician who has called attention to Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s hold on the ticketing market.
This comes as Ticketmaster cancelled its public sales for Swift’s tour, called Eras. In a tweet, Ticketmaster said the cancellation was due to “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand.”
The public sale would have been for tickets left over from the site’s troubled presales, which started on Tuesday for members of its Verified Fan program. Many fans experienced technical glitches and hours-long wait times, with many ultimately unable to buy a ticket.
According to The New York Times, Ticketmaster said in a now-deleted post that 3.5 million people registered for the Verified Fan program. Around 1.5 million were given a special access code, and the rest were put on a waiting list. “Never before has a Verified Fan on sale sparked so much attention—or uninvited volume,” Ticketmaster said.
Skrmetti said he had received complaints from fans who tried to purchase tickets for Eras. In a tweet on Thursday, the attorney general said that other state attorney generals are also looking into the matter: “Ticketmaster’s decision to cancel sales underscores the important need for accountability. Fans deserve a fair chance to buy a ticket. I’m encouraged by other state AGs who are taking this issue serious as well.”
The Washington Post reports that Skrmetti said Ticketmaster should have been better prepared for the high demand and questioned whether “because they have such a dominant market position, they felt like they didn’t need to worry about that.”
In another tweet before the sale was canceled, the attorney general’s office said Skrmetti “is concerned about consumer complaints related to @Ticketmaster’s pre-sale of @taylorswift13 concert tickets. He and his Consumer Protection team will use every available tool to ensure that no consumer protection laws were violated.”
TechCrunch has contacted Ticketmaster and Skrmetti’s office for comment.
Eras is Swift’s first tour in four years and comes after the release of her new album “Midnights.”
Other politicians have raised concerns over the combined company of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which merged in 2010, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Representative David N. Cicilline and Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr.
Representative Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet on Tuesday that “Ticketmaster is a monopoly, its merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they needed to be reigned in. Break them up.”
Representative Cicilline tweeted on Wednesday that Ticketmaster’s “excessive wait times and fees are completely unacceptable, as seen with today’s @taylorswift13 tickets, and are a symptom of a larger problem. It’s no secret that Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an unchecked monopoly.”
And Representative Pascrell, Jr., who was among the millions of fans put on a waitlist for Swift tickets, tweeted “The Ticketmaster-Live Nation monopoly should never have been allowed to merge and must be broken up.”
Consumers are also pushing for a breakup of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. An alliance of consumer rights groups, including antitrust nonprofit American Economic Liberties Project, launched a campaign last month called Break Up Ticketmaster, saying that Ticketmaster’s “market power over live events is ripping off sports and music fans and undermining the vibrancy and independence of the music industry.”
Ticketmaster faces antitrust scrutiny after Taylor Swift ticket chaos by Catherine Shu originally published on TechCrunch
Ticketmaster faces antitrust scrutiny after Taylor Swift ticket chaos