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Taylor Swift has enraged some fans as her lawyers threatened to sue a student for tracking and publishing her jet information online. Jack Sweeney, a 21-year-old studying at the University of Central Florida, was sent a cease-and-desist letter by Taylor’s lawyers. The letter demanded he stop sharing the singer’s location.
Sweeney uses publicly available data to track down the take-off and landing information of planes or private aircraft belonging to prominent figures. He posts the information a day later.
Taylor’s lawyers claimed this tracking almost amounts to “stalking”. The student was banned from Twitter (now X) in 2022 after being accused of sharing Elon Musk’s “assassination coordinates”.
Taylor Swift’s lawyers issued the cease-and-desist letter in December, which said the information shared by Jack Sweeney posed a potential threat to the singer’s safety and well-being. They called it a “life-or-death matter” for the “Karma” hitmaker. The letter also cited how Taylor had to deal with numerous stalkers throughout her career, and the data shared by Sweeney gives criminals an easy roadmap to her whereabouts.
Jack Sweeney told BBC in a statement that he did not intend to harm anyone by sharing the jet information. He said:
“I actually think Swift has some good songs. I believe in transparency and public information.”
Sweeney said he received the letter after Taylor’s carbon footprints began to be scrutinized by the media. The whole ordeal, however, was not well-received by netizens as they blamed the singer for threatening the student.
One X user responded to Dexerto's post on the same and called Taylor out.
Internet lashes out at Taylor Swift over jet tracking controversy
Netizens bashed Taylor Swift for using private jets that increase carbon emissions, thus contributing to climate issues and global warming. They said the singer's lawyers threatened to sue Sweeney in an attempt to divert the attention from Taylor's carbon emission records.
However, a few others spoke in defense of Taylor Swift's privacy and the dangers of exposing such information to the public.
Some others had a neutral stance on the matter and they spoke for both Taylor and Jack Sweeney's sides.
A 33-year-old man was arrested last month for stalking outside Taylor Swift’s NYC home. A spokesperson for the singer told US media that Jack Sweeney’s posts about her jet information were partly responsible for the incident. Tree Paine, the spokeswoman, said:
“We cannot comment on any ongoing police investigation but can confirm the timing of stalkers suggests a connection.”
She said Sweeney’s posts reported exactly when and where Taylor would be.
As per Yard, a digital marketing firm, in 2022, Taylor Swift topped the list of celebrities with private jets, having the highest CO2 emissions.
