Taylor Swift silences student who tracked her plane's data - previously sued by Ilon Musk

Jack Sweeney, who sparked the anger of celebrities and billionaires by creating accounts tracking their private flights, may face a legal challenge again.

According to The Washington Post, in December Taylor Swift's attorneys sent a student a letter threatening legal action and demanding the cessation of social media posts about the singer's flights. The statement said that such actions cause "direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical suffering."

"I think it's important to note that I have no intention of causing harm. I really think Swift has a few good songs. And I believe in transparency and public information," Sweeney said in comments to The Verge.

In reality, the accounts publish information that is already publicly available — through the Federal Aviation Administration and signals transmitted by private planes. In fact, Sweeney simply made access to them easier by creating separate accounts on social media.

In addition to data on private plane takeoffs and landings, Sweeney also estimates and publishes how much fuel they used and greenhouse gases they emitted. Last year, Taylor Swift topped the list of celebrities with the highest CO2 emissions from private planes.

"Taylor's plane is regularly loaned out to other people. It is clearly incorrect to attribute most or all of these flights to her," the singer's representatives replied at the time.

Meanwhile, Sweeney says that Swift's team's statements contradict each other and "strongly resemble" Elon Musk's lawsuit in December 2022. The guy switched from Twitter to Threads after the billionaire banned him from the platform and accused him of posting "coordinates for murder." At the end of 2022, Sweeney returned to X with an account sharing data about Musk's private plane, but with a 24-hour delay.