D.C. Attorney General Sues StubHub Over Pricing Practices

District of Columbia Attorney General Brian L. Schwab announced that he filed a lawsuit against StubHub, in which he alleges that the online ticket platform used dark patterns to mislead consumers about ticket prices in order to charge them "junk fees."

In announcing the lawsuit, Schwab explained, "StubHub lures consumers in by advertising a deceptively low price, forces them through a burdensome purchase process, and then finally reveals a total on the checkout page that is vastly higher than the originally advertised price."

"Junk fees" – and the broader practice of engaging in so-called "dark patterns" in order to trick consumers into taking actions they would not ordinarily take – are getting a lot of attention right now in the United States. Even though this particular lawsuit is still just at its beginning stages, there are some important things for advertisers to pay attention to here.