CNN
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Attorneys for Taylor Swift are threatening authorized motion in opposition to the Florida faculty pupil who tracks the personal jets of celebrities and public figures, together with Swift.
Jack Sweeney confirmed to CNN on Tuesday that he obtained a cease-and-desist letter threatening authorized motion from attorneys for Swift concerning the social media accounts he runs that monitor Swift’s flights. The information was first reported by the Washington Post.
Sweeney is similar one that famously drew ire from billionaire Elon Musk for monitoring his jet travels on-line. Musk, who owns X, disbanded Sweeney’s account “@ElonJet” on the social media platform previously often called Twitter in December 2022.
Sweeney, who was let again on the X platform, additionally runs accounts that monitor the personal jet actions of Mark Zuckerberg, Invoice Gates, and a spate of different celebrities and public figures. Musk has beforehand mentioned the accounts pose a “safety threat” for him and his household.
Sweeney operates the accounts on a number of social media platforms utilizing publicly-available flight information from the Federal Aviation Administration in addition to flight indicators tracked by particular person aviation fanatics, and sometimes contains estimates of carbon emissions from every flight he tracks within the posts.
The December letter from Swift’s lead lawyer on this challenge, Katie Morrone of Venable LLP, accuses Sweeney of participating in “stalking and harassing conduct, together with constantly publishing real-time and exact details about our consumer’s location and future whereabouts to the general public on social media.”
The letter claims this poses an “imminent menace to the protection and wellbeing” of Swift. It additionally accuses Sweeney of disregarding the general public security of others “in alternate for public consideration and/or requests for monetary achieve.”
The letter even references CNN reporting on Musk providing Sweeney $5,000 to delete the Twitter account monitoring his jet. (Sweeney refused this provide on the time and requested for $50,000, saying he might use the cash to pay for faculty or maybe to purchase a Tesla).
The letter states that it’s a “life-or-death matter” for Swift, who has handled stalkers and others who want her hurt since she was a teen. The letter states that there are “many public instances” of people who’ve come to Swift’s residences, together with armed with weapons and ammunition, and “tried to hurt her.” The letter argues that sharing her location data provides these unhealthy actors “a roadmap to hold out their plans.”
If Sweeney continues to publish data monitoring Swift’s jet travels, her attorneys add, “She could have no selection however to pursue any and all authorized cures accessible to her.”
Sweeney informed CNN over e-mail that he obtained the letter from Swift’s attorneys after headlines from some non-profit organizations and media retailers scrutinized the singer’s carbon footprint.
Sweeney additionally informed CNN that he by no means meant any hurt together with his actions, noting that he’s compiling “public data.”
“I really suppose Swift has some good songs,” Sweeney added. Nonetheless, he mentioned, “I imagine in transparency and public data.” Sweeney additionally mentioned there may be excessive public curiosity from Swift’s followers within the accounts, saying she ought to have “an honest expectation” that her jet can be tracked “whether or not or not I do it.”
A consultant for Taylor Swift declined CNN’s request for remark Tuesday. When requested about proof that stalkers of Swift had used the jet-tracking accounts run by Sweeney, a spokeswoman for Swift informed the Washington Put up, “We can’t touch upon any ongoing police investigation however can verify the timing of stalkers suggests a connection. His posts inform you precisely when and the place she could be.”
Curiosity in Swift’s upcoming travels, and particularly whether or not she is going to make it again to the US from her abroad tour in time to see her boyfriend Travis Kelce within the Tremendous Bowl, has intensified in current weeks.
Simply final week, the Japanese Embassy within the US tweeted a statement saying that regardless of the long-haul flight again from Tokyo and a 17-hour time distinction, Swift ought to be capable to make it to Las Vegas from Tokyo in time for the massive sport if she departs Tokyo within the night after her live performance.
This story has been up to date with extra context.