Left: Jack Sweeney, the Florida college student who tracks private flights by high-profile public figures (via YouTube screengrab/NewsNation). Right: PARK CITY, UTAH — JANUARY 23: Taylor Swift attends the 2020 Sundance Film Festival — “Miss Americana” Premiere at Eccles Center Theatre on January 23, 2020 in Park City, Utah (via Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
The college student who tracks the in-air movements of celebrities, billionaires, and other public figures has fired back against pop superstar Taylor Swift’s threat of legal action.
Jack Sweeney, a 21-year-old junior at the University of Central Florida, runs a website that follows the takeoffs and landings of private planes and helicopters belonging to the likes of Elon Musk, former President Donald Trump, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, and Swift. As reported by The Washington Post, lawyers for the Grammy-winning singer have sent Sweeney multiple cease-and-desist letters threatening to sue him if he doesn’t stop tracking her movements.
In a statement on Wednesday, Sweeney made it clear that he will not back down.
“Firstly I’d like to clarify that my intentions are not to cause harm,” he said in a statement, according to Orlando CBS affiliate WKMG. “But I believe in the importance of transparency and public information, seemingly more so than Meta.”
Sweeney described how Meta, the Mark Zuckerberg-owned parent company of Facebook, suspended Sweeney’s account dedicated to tracking Swift’s jets from the platforms Instagram, Threads and Facebook.
“The accounts got suspended only hours after I received the letter from her team,” Sweeney said. “This means Swift’s team also sent threats to Meta, later apparently confirmed by insiders.”
The statement says that the Swift-specific account was the only one that was pulled from the platforms.
“All the other jet tracking accounts on Meta platforms are still up, including CelebrityJets, Kim K jet, Kylie J jet, Trump, Bezos, Gates, and most importantly Zuckerbergs,” the statement says.
Sweeney references a Washington Post report about legal action threatened by Swift’s attorneys. The attorneys accused Sweeney of engaging in “stalking and harassing behavior” and causing Swift and her family “direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress,” according to the Washington Post.
“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,” the attorneys’ letter reportedly said, adding that there is “no legitimate interest in or public need for this information, other than to stalk, harass, and exert dominion and control.”
In his statement, Sweeney said that there are steps Swift could take to protect her privacy and safety if doing so “is of uttermost importance.”
“Register jet to a trust like TVPX or Bank of Utah Trustee,” he said in his statement. “Registering your jet to a LLC who is clearly linked to you is part of the problem. Especially when the LLC is the Initial’s to the names in your family. SATA LLC (Scott, Andrea, Taylor, Austin).”
Sweeney also urged Swift not to “register the tail number as a resemblance to who you are. N898TS clearly is showing off that it’s Taylor Swift. As the numbers are her birthday and letters initials.”
The college student, who admits in his statement that he “actually like[s] some of Swift’s songs,” says that he’s actually doing it for the so-called “Swifties,” the singer’s fan base.
“Swift’s team suggests that I have no legitimate interest in sharing jet information, which is fundamentally incorrect,” he says. “Her fans, who have grown the TaylorSwiftJets accounts and subreddit, are the ones truly interested. These tracking accounts consistently have more supporters and fans. When the Embassy of Japan in the USA expresses confidence that Swift can make a flight from Tokyo to the Super Bowl, it indicates public interest. Therefore, one should reasonably expect that their jet will be tracked, whether or not I’m the one doing it, as it is public information after all.”
Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform previously known as Twitter, booted Sweeney from X in late 2022, accusing him of sharing what he called his “assassination coordinates.”
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