Google pressured to refuse Viagogo ads and stop favouring site on search results

Tech giant Google which has recently been under pressure from music fans and members of parliament to stop placing the ticket reseller website Viagogo at the top of its search rankings, said it will abide by the rulings of the Competition and Markets Authority.

A letter signed by the Football Association, several MPs and trade body UK Music last week, said that placing Viagogo at the top of the searches could lead to consumers thinking it’s not a reseller and buying tickets that could be invalid or extremely overpriced.

"The CMA has been looking at the business practices of ticket resellers," a Google spokeswoman said.

2We wait the conclusion of these inquiries and we hope that they will clarify the rules in the interests of consumers. We will abide by the rulings of these enquiries and local law.

"In February, we updated our policies to ensure that resellers cannot claim to be official providers of tickets and that they must be transparent about their price, fees and taxes before requiring payment."

The signatories are particularly concerned that the reseller is already facing legal action. They are also worried that customers could unknowingly be lured into buying overpriced tickets on Viagogo when they are still on sale on official sites for the events.

The letter calls for Google to ban Viagogo from using AdWords, thereby preventing the company from appearing at the top of search results.

"In effect, one of the world’s most trusted brands – Google – is being paid to actively promote one of the least trusted," the letter says. "We understand that Viagogo is a valuable client to Google, spending considerable sums each year on paid search advertising. However, we urge you to protect consumers who daily put their trust in Google, and act now to restrict Viagogo’s ability to pay for prominence."

Recently, a music fan hoping to take her terminally ill father to the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall as part of his final "bucket list" bought two £87 tickets on Viagogo for £2,959 but they never arrived.