President backs ‘commonsense reforms’ to stop soaring resale prices as singer urges Congress to pass legislation

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The world’s most powerful man is using his office to punish journalistic organisations that won’t follow his orders or who report critically on his policies. Donald Trump’s actions against the press include bans, lawsuits and hand-picking his own pool of reporters.

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Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that aimed to protect fans by cracking down on “exploitative ticket scalping” and introduced “commonsense reforms” to the way live entertainment events are priced.

Flanked by a bespangled Kid Rock in the Oval Office, the president signed what he called a “very serious” order designed to protect fans from “having to pay crazy prices” for tickets.

There is a lot at stake

The world’s most powerful man is using his office to punish journalistic organisations that won’t follow his orders or who report critically on his policies. Donald Trump’s actions against the press include bans, lawsuits and hand-picking his own pool of reporters.

But the global threat against the press is bigger than just Trump.

Economic and authoritarian forces around the globe are challenging journalists’ ability to report. An independent press, one that those in power can’t simply overrule, is crucial to democracy. Figures such as Trump and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán want to crush it through exclusion and influence.

The Guardian is a global news organisation that will stand up to attacks on the free press. We have no interest serving those with immense power or immense wealth.

We are owned by an independent trust devoted only to protecting and defending our journalism. That means we don’t have a billionaire owner dictating what our reporters can cover or what opinions our columnists can have, or shareholders demanding a quick return.

The global situation is shifting hour by hour, making this an extremely challenging moment. It will take brave, well-funded, committed, quality journalism to call out what is happening.

Our job is to make sure we do not get overwhelmed as Trump floods the zone. We must focus on the stories that will make the biggest impact on people’s lives, while holding the powerful to account. We’ll also continue to focus on the ideas people need to create a better world: a reason for hope.

As the writer and Guardian columnist Rebecca Solnit says: “authentic hope requires clarity … and imagination”.

The Guardian can provide both and, with the help of readers like you in Vietnam, we can drive hope by reporting truthfully on what is happening and never pulling our punches.

“Anyone who’s bought a concert ticket in the last decade, maybe 20 years – no matter what your politics are – knows that it’s a conundrum,” Kid Rock, wearing sunglasses and a white fedora, said, lamenting the frustration of purchasing a ticket online after bots scoop up the tickets and then “jack up” the price. “This is a great first step.”

Targeting “unscrupulous middle men who impose egregious fees”, the order directs the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to ensure that scalpers reselling tickets at a higher price than their face value are operating in full compliance with the Internal Revenue Service rules, according to a White House fact sheet.

A 2023 law requires e-commerce platforms to report to the IRS if sellers’ proceeds from ticket sales exceed $600. Excessive proceeds will generate a tax form that may result in additional taxes for the seller. The rule change stems from legislation in the early months of the Biden administration that was phased in to take effect in 2023.

It also orders the Federal Trade Commission to work with the attorney general to ensure that competition laws are appropriately enforced and to ensure “price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process”.

“Ticket scalpers use bots and other unfair means to acquire large quantities of face-value tickets, then re-sell them at an enormous markup on the secondary market, price-gouging consumers and depriving fans of the opportunity to see their favorite artists without incurring extraordinary expenses,” the fact sheet said, citing reports that some American consumers have paid as much as “70 times the face value of a ticket price to obtain a ticket”.

“I didn’t know too much about it, but I checked it out, and this is a big problem,” Trump said during the signing.

The issue has been bubbling for years, after several high-profile controversies that have forced fans to pay soaring prices for the chance to see their favorite artists. Perhaps most famously was the debacle surrounding Taylor Swift’s Eras tour sale, which prompted a Senate hearing on the matter and an antitrust probe by the Biden administration.

The justice department under Biden eventually sued Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, accusing the concert promotion and live ticketing giant of operating an “illegal monopoly” that thwarts competition in markets across and drives up the cost of tickets.

In the Oval Office on Monday, Kid Rock – wearing a bright red, sparkly rhinestone-studded suit emblazoned with images of the American flag, eagles and stars – noted the cross-partisan appeal of tackling this problem and said Ticketmaster was “on board” with the change.

“I want the fans to have fair ticket prices,” he said. “There’s plenty of money to go around. Nobody’s going to lose here.”

He also urged Congress to pass legislation capping the price of resale tickets, quickly qualifying that he was a “capitalist”. The musician then quipped that he was “overpaid” and would rather be “a hero to working-class people” by offering lower-priced tickets to his fans: “I can’t control that right now.”

In a statement, Live Nation said it supported the order and “any meaningful resale reforms”, including strengthening enforcement of the 2016 Bots Act, which outlaws the use of bots to purchase tickets and resell them at inflated prices, and caps on resale prices.

“Scalpers and bots prevent fans from getting tickets at the prices artists set, and we thank President Trump for taking them head-on,” it said.

During the signing ceremony, Trump took a range of questions, many from friendly news outlets, including one from a reporter who asked if the president would ever wear Kid Rock’s red jacket with the American flag motif. (Trump said he was “not sure” he would.) After the lengthy session, Trump realized he hadn’t signed the order yet and quickly scrawled his name in black pen.

“You better do well with this,” Trump told Kid Rock, handing him the order. The musician laughed, hoisted up the Sharpie-signed order and declared: “Make America Fun Again.”