DataDome launches waiting room to block bot traffic

DataDome has launched Priority Protect, a virtual waiting room designed to manage human, AI agent and bot traffic. The product targets online sales and booking periods that attract heavy automated demand.

The launch comes as concern grows over the effect of bots on ticketing and other high-demand online transactions in the UK, where lawmakers are considering the Ticket Touting Bill. Existing queue systems were built to handle traffic spikes as a capacity issue, rather than distinguish between genuine customers and automated traffic, according to DataDome.

The new system analyses each request in real time and classifies it as coming from a human user, an AI agent or a bot. Businesses can then apply different rules to each group, including allowing access, challenging traffic or removing it from the queue.

That approach reflects a wider shift in online commerce. Automated tools no longer appear only during headline product launches or major ticket releases. Retailers, ticket sellers and booking platforms are increasingly dealing with software agents that monitor listings continuously and react immediately to changes in availability or price.

DataDome said this has turned many ordinary online sales into a constant version of a flash sale. In one overnight sports ticket sale, 31% of queue traffic was bot-generated, or 2.4 million of 7.8 million requests, it said.

Queue pressure

Virtual waiting rooms have become a common way to control access during sudden traffic surges, especially for concert tickets, sporting events and limited product drops. But many of those systems decide only when a visitor first joins the queue and do not continue checking behaviour once the user is inside, DataDome argues.

Priority Protect is designed to keep validating traffic throughout a session, rather than only at the point of entry. That means a user or software agent that changes behaviour after entering the queue can be challenged again or removed, according to the company.

The system also keeps the waiting room on the client company's own domain, rather than sending users to a separate environment. That allows businesses to set rules for specific pages, domains or URLs and adjust queue release rates in real time, DataDome said.

It is also adding priority lanes, allowing customers to route selected users or approved agents to the front of the queue through dashboard settings. That could be used for trusted partners, premium customers or other predefined groups.

Wider issue

The debate over queue fairness has intensified after several major ticket sales in recent years drew complaints about long waits, site instability and limited availability for ordinary consumers. Sales for artists including Oasis and Taylor Swift focused attention on how quickly automated traffic can crowd online systems and reduce access for genuine buyers.

The proposed Ticket Touting Bill in the UK has added political momentum to efforts to curb abuse in online ticketing. While the legislation addresses resale and touting practices, pressure on ticketing systems also stems from the scale and speed of automated queue traffic.

Early customers using Priority Protect have reported cleaner queues, fewer losses of inventory to bots and shorter waiting times for genuine users during peak periods, DataDome said. It did not identify those customers.

DataDome already provides bot and automated traffic management services, and said the new waiting room extends that work into queue management. Its wider network processes 5 trillion signals a day to assess traffic behaviour, though the company did not break down how much of that activity relates specifically to the new product.

Pradheep Sampath, Chief Product Officer at DataDome, said the problem is no longer limited to website outages caused by sudden demand.

"Peak moments should drive revenue, not outages. A virtual waiting room that cannot tell a human customer from a bot or an unauthorised AI agent has no way to guarantee fairnesos. Priority Protect was built on a fraud-detection foundation, so businesses can guarantee that every spot in line goes to a real customer or an agent they actually trust," Sampath said.