Taylor Swift threatens legal action against student who tracks her private jet

Taylor Swift’s lawyer has threatened legal action against a student who was tracking the singer’s private jet trips through social media.

Swift’s lawyers sent multiple letters to University of Central Florida student Jack Sweeney, demanding that he stop tracking and sharing Swift’s flight information online. The Washington Post first reported.

For several years, Mr. Sweeney has been running social media accounts that document the takeoffs and landings of planes owned by billionaires, politicians and celebrities. He uses publicly available data from the Federal Aviation Administration and often measures the carbon footprint from each flight.

Sweeney’s lawyers sent him a cease-and-desist letter in December, stating that if Sweeney does not stop his so-called “stalking and harassing behavior,” they “will have no choice but to pursue all legal remedies.”

The singer claimed that Sweeney’s social media accounts caused her and her family “direct and irreparable harm” and “emotional and physical pain.” Sweeney shared a copy of her letter with the Post.

A spokesperson for Swift said she could not comment on an ongoing police investigation, but confirmed there was a link between Swift’s stalker and the jet-tracking online account.

Sweeney told the report that he believed this was an attempt to intimidate people from sharing public data.

Swift and other celebrities have been criticized for their use of private jets and their impact on climate change. The newspaper said Sweeney’s testimony was cited in a 2022 study that reported Swift was one of the biggest celebrity carbon polluters in 2022.

His account was subsequently blocked by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Swift’s lawyers then sent a second letter saying Sweeney was participating in “an act of harassment,” the newspaper reported.

Swift’s travel plans have been in the spotlight this week. She is scheduled to perform in Japan on “The Eras Tour,” a huge hit ahead of her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s appearance in the Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Japanese embassy in Washington, D.C., confirmed that Swift would have enough time from her Tokyo performance to fly to Las Vegas for the match.