A college student, Jack Sweeney, known for sitting at home and managing social media accounts that track the private jets of celebrities and public figures, including Taylor Swift, is now dealing with legal action from the pop star’s attorneys. Sweeney revealed to CNN on Tuesday that he had received a cease-and-desist letter from Swift’s legal team, instructing him to quit posting details about her flights on his accounts.
However, Sweeney is not a stranger to this type of issue. He is also known for tracking flight movements of Elon Musk, but with the power the latter has, he shut down Sweeney’s account, @ElonJet, in December 2022, citing “security risks.”
After being allowed back on X, Sweeney went on to track the private jets of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and other famous people. For those not fully aware, he tracks these flights by utilizing publicly accessible data from the Federal Aviation Administration and flight signals provided by aviation enthusiasts. Additionally, he includes estimates of the carbon emissions for each flight in his posts.
One of the singer’s attorneys sent the 21-year-old a mere letter in December, accusing him of “stalking and harassing behaviour, including consistently publishing real-time and precise information about our client’s location and future whereabouts to the public on social media.”
The letter also stated that this was an “imminent threat to the safety and wellbeing” of the singer, who has been constantly dealing with stalkers ever since she established herself in the industry as a teenager. The letter added that there were already “many public cases” of people who have tried to come to Taylor’s homes, out of which some carried weapons, and “attempted to harm her.” The letter joined these two cases and concluded that if her location is shared at all times, it could give these stalkers “a roadmap to carry out their plans” with much ease.
The letter also emphasized that it’s a “life-or-death matter” for the Grammy-winner. If Sweeney doesn’t stop posting about her whereabouts, “she will have no choice but to pursue any and all legal remedies available to her.”
The college student, who is a junior at the University of Central Florida, told CNN that he received the letter from Swift’s attorneys not long after some non-profit organizations and media outlets raised concerns about the singer’s carbon footprint.
“I actually think Swift has some good songs,” Sweeney said. He said he didn’t mean any harm and believes “in transparency and public information.” He also mentioned that Swifties are very interested in what he posts, and that, the singer should have “a decent expectation” that her jet would be monitored, irrespective of “whether or not I do it.”
