Taylor Swift Slammed For Threatening To Sue Student Who Tracks Her Private Jet Usage
Taylor Swift has found herself at the center of a social media storm after her lawyers threatened to sue a college student who runs social media accounts that track her and other celebrities' private jet usage.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Swift's legal team issued a cease-and-desist letter to 21-year-old University of Central Florida student Jack Sweeney, who tracks the takeoffs and landings of planes and helicopters belonging to billionaires, celebrities, politicians and other public figures and posts them one day later, along with estimates of carbon emissions from each flight. Sweeney cites publicly available data from the Federal Aviation Administration and volunteer hobbyists.
In the letter issued in December 2023, the pop superstar's attorneys threatened legal action against Sweeney if he did not stop posting Swift's private jet locations, accusing him of "stalking and harassing behavior."
"While this may be a game to you, or an avenue that you hope will earn you wealth or fame, it is a life-or-death matter for our Client," Katie Wright Morrone, a lawyer for Swift, wrote in the letter, which Sweeney shared with The Post.
The legal letter accused Sweeney's accounts of causing "direct and irreparable harm" to Swift and her family and claimed there was "no legitimate interest in or public need for this information, other than to stalk, harass and exert dominion and control."
In a statement obtained by the publication, Swift's spokeswoman, Tree Paine, suggested there was a "connection" between the posts and a man getting arrested for stalking outside of the singer's Manhattan home last month.
"His posts tell you exactly when and where she would be," Paine added.
Social media users, however, criticized Swift over the move, with many siding with Sweeney.
Some users pointed out Swift's environmental impact and viewed the threat of legal action as an attempt to stifle transparency and accountability.
"Taylor Swift has been the celebrity with the biggest carbon footprint for 2 years in a row. I think she deserves to be publicly shamed for inability and refusal to care for the earth," one X user wrote.
"She's a billionaire bully picking on a climate-activist college kid posting PUBLIC information because... it's bad for her PR," another wrote.
"This is grim. The tracker is holding celebrities accountable, and this rich person wants to sue them for it? A bad look," a third user commented.
But others defended Swift, with one person saying, "Her safety is at risk constantly from stalking!"
"Like her or not, I would give her some leeway when it comes to privacy and security," another wrote.
A third user pointed out: "'Isn't this public information?' So is your location when you're walking or driving on a public street. [B]ut if someone had multiple social accounts updating every time you moved and 1000s of people, including stalkers, followed those accounts, you'd be understandably concerned."
In a statement to the Washington Post, Sweeney argued that the information he shares is akin to other publicly available data, such as tour itineraries or sports schedules.
"This information is already out there," he asserted. "Her team thinks they can control the world."
In response to the legal threats, a lawyer representing Sweeney, James Slater, stated that Swift's team had not identified any specific legal claims against his client, according to the publication.
Slater argued that Sweeney's accounts engage in protected speech and do not violate any of Swift's legal rights.
In a separate statement to the BBC, Sweeney maintained that his intention is not to cause harm but to provide transparency and public information.
He added that the cease-and-desist letter followed media scrutiny of Swift's carbon footprint.
Digital marketing firm Yard ranked her as the celebrity with the highest private jet carbon dioxide emissions in 2022.
Swift's publicist said in a statement to The Post at the time that the billionaire's plane was often loaned out to other people.
In late 2022, Sweeney's 530,000-follower flight tracker account on X, formerly Twitter, was suspended for sharing what Elon Musk called his "assassination coordinates."
According to Rolling Stone, the student's account was eventually restored, but he can only share flight information with a 24-hour delay in accordance with the platform's real-time location tracking rules.
