Taylor Swift accuses Jack Sweeney of causing ‘irreparable' harm and emotional distress by tracking her jet
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Taylor Swift is not happy with Jack Sweeney, a college student who tracks her private jet flights on social media.
The pop star’s lawyers had sent a "cease-and-desist" letter to Sweeney, accusing him of stalking and harassing her.
Taylor Swift’s lawyer claims jet-tracking is a life-or-death matter
Sweeney, a junior at the University of Central Florida, runs accounts that log the takeoffs and landings of planes and helicopters owned by celebrities, billionaires, politicians, and other public figures.
He also estimates their carbon emissions using publicly available data. Swift’s lawyer, Katie Wright Morrone, wrote to Sweeney in December, saying that he had caused Swift and her family “direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress.”
She said Swift would “have no choice but to pursue any and all legal remedies” if he did not stop his “stalking and harassing behavior.”
She also said that Swift was in a “constant state of fear for her personal safety” because of his posts.
“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,” Morrone wrote, according to The Washington Post.
She added that there was “no legitimate interest in or public need for this information, other than to stalk, harass, and exert dominion and control.”
Taylor Swift’s spokeswoman links jet-tracking to stalkers
Swift’s spokeswoman, Tree Paine, declined to comment on any ongoing police investigation but said that the timing of stalkers suggested a connection to Sweeney’s posts.
“His posts tell you exactly when and where she would be,” Paine said.
Sweeney, 21, told the publication that he did not see his accounts as stalking or harassing, but as sharing public data.
He said that his posts only gave a rough idea of which cities Swift might be in, similar to her concert schedules or public appearances.
He also said that he received the letter at a time when Swift faced backlash over her environmental impact.
Jack Sweeney defends his jet-tracking as public information
Sweeny said the letter was an "attempt to scare him away from sharing public data."
“This information is already out there,” Sweeney said, adding “Her team thinks they can control the world.”
The publication reported that around the time of the December letter, Facebook and Instagram disabled Sweeney's accounts created to track Swift’s air travel citing they broke the platforms’ privacy rules, he said.
He then posted the information on Facebook and Instagram. Last month, the report said, Morrone sent a second letter saying his posts about Swift’s aircraft constituted “harassing conduct.”
