ORLANDO, Fla. – Jack Sweeney, the University of Central Florida student tracking Taylor Swift’s jet and the planes of other celebrities, released a statement after the uber-popular pop star threatened legal action against him.
A report by the Washington Post said Sweeney uses public data released by the Federal Aviation Administration to track the aircrafts and the signals they broadcast.
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In December, Swift’s attorney wrote Sweeney a cease-and-desist letter saying Swift would “have no choice but to pursue any and all legal remedies” if he did not stop his “stalking and harassing behavior.” The attorney said Sweeney’s behavior has caused Swift and her family “direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress.”
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“Firstly I’d like to clarify that my intentions are not to cause harm. In fact, I actually like some of Swift’s songs,” Sweeney’s statement read in part.
His statement goes on to criticize Meta for blocking the taylorswiftjets account on all of their 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,” his statement read.
In December 2022, Elon Musk threatened legal action against Sweeney after he tracked Musk’s jet on Twitter before his account went through a roller coaster of being suspended, reinstated, and suspended.
News 6 published a story on Wednesday that listed all of the celebrity planes that are being tracked, which include Swift, Musk, Drake, Tiger Woods, Travis Scott and others.
Here is Sweeney’s full statement:
“Firstly I’d like to clarify that my intentions are not to cause harm. In fact, I actually like some of Swift’s songs. But I believe in the importance of transparency and public information, seemingly more so than Meta. As Meta suspended my @taylorswiftjets account on Instagram, Threads and Facebook. The accounts got suspended only hours after I received the letter from her team. This means Swift’s team also sent threats to Meta, later apparently confirmed by insiders. Metas team debating whether to suspend the taylorswiftjets account. In conclusion from what I know they provided and “exception” to suspend only her jet tracking account. 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.
It’s worth noting, as reported by WAPO, that this letter surfaced days after headlines criticized her jet use and its carbon emissions. A year prior, her team informed the media that her jet is seldom used by her and is often loaned out. These statements contradict each other, much like her team’s response to owning a single jet, which has only been true for the past two weeks. Her family has owned N898TS and N621MM for years, with ownership only changing recently. The claim of owning just one jet seems to be an attempt to downplay the family’s jet use. While this may be true now, it’s a recent development. Taylor Swifts team / Tree Paine also has been responding to this headline. Only providing a single short statement about an on going investigation. Why is her team not responding to my correspondence or anything regarding the points on the emissions.
If her privacy and safety is of uttermost importance her team should implement the following.
- Register jet to a trust like TVPX or Bank of Utah Trustee. 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)
- Don’t 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.
This situation bears a striking resemblance to December 2022 when Musk threatened legal action against me, following his claim that someone was targeting him. However, open-source intelligence (OSINT) has disproven these allegations.
Swift’s team suggests that I have no legitimate interest in sharing jet information, which is fundamentally incorrect. 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.”
Jack Sweeney
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