Hong Kong authorities have uncovered robot-operated accounts booking public indoor sports venues on the SmartPlay app, just a week after a new anti-touting policy took effect. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department is proactively handling these cases to tackle scalping. Experts are calling for stronger measures against the practice.
Hong Kong authorities have uncovered robot-operated accounts booking public indoor sports venues just a week after a new anti-touting policy took effect, prompting experts to call for stronger measures against scalping.
A Leisure and Cultural Services Department spokesman told the South China Morning Post that authorities had detected bots being used to book public indoor sports venues on its SmartPlay app. “We have identified accounts using different means, computer programmes or other automated tools to conduct booking transactions or disrupt normal operations on SmartPlay and we are proactively handling these cases to tackle users who tout bookings,” the spokesman said.
But the department did not reveal how many accounts it had identified or how it weeded them out, citing the need to keep scalpers from evading its crackdown. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department has introduced a range of measures since January 21 to clamp down on rampant touting at indoor basketball and volleyball courts. These include a 360-day booking ban without prior notice for accounts found using computer programmes or other automated tools.
IT experts from the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, including Keith Rumjahn and Francis Fong Po-kiu, have urged for stricter rules to better protect public access to sports facilities. The incident highlights the challenges of enforcing fair booking systems in the face of technological exploitation.
