Taylor Swift threatens legal action against UCF student tracking her private jet

Taylor Swift’s team has threatened legal action against Jack Sweeney, a University of Central Florida student who has been sharing the pop star’s private jet travels — as well as the environmental impact of her traveling — on social media.

Sweeney is known for the various social media accounts he’s run for years tracking the planes and helicopters owned by billionaires and public officials. He made headlines in the past for his public disputes with Elon Musk after sharing the billionaire's public flight data, or as Musk called the information, “assassination coordinates.” More recently, the UCF junior also tracked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plane shortly after the governor signed a bill shielding his transportation records from the public.

Sweeney’s accounts post the takeoffs and landings of public figures using publicly available data from the Federal Aviation Administration to track the planes' signals, according to a report by the Washington Post. Then they’re made more public, by being posted on social media.

The Post reports that Swift’s lawyers sent Sweeney a cease and desist letter in December and threatened to take legal action if he didn’t stop his “stalking and harassing behavior.” The cease and desist letter also accused the account of causing Swift and her family “direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress.” Sweeney said he believes the letter from Swift’s team was sent to him to try to scare him away from sharing public data.

Swift has faced stalkers who show up outside her homes and harass her, a concern that Swift’s lawyers addressed in the letter sent to Sweeney’s parents. Tree Paine, Swift’s spokeswoman, even mentioned a possible connection between Swift’s stalkers and the jet-tracking account.

The Instagram and Facebook accounts @TaylorSwiftJets, which posted estimates of the carbon footprint of Swift’s trips to attend her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s football games or make stops on the Eras Tour, were suspended for violating privacy rules. Those tracking other public figures, such as former President Donald Trump, still remain live.

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