Taylor Swift performs at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Feb. 16, 2024, in Melbourne, Australia.
A college student named Jack Sweeney fired back against Taylor Swift’s lawyer after receiving a cease and desist letter for tracking the pop superstar’s private jets.
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Swift’s legal team sent two cease and desist letters to Sweeney—one in December 2023, and another in January 2024—demanding he stop posting her jets’ whereabouts online.
“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,” her lawyer, Katie Wright Morrone, . “Ms. Swift has dealt with stalkers and other individuals who wish her harm.”
On Monday, Feb. 19, Sweeney took to X (formerly Twitter) with the response sent by his lawyer, Ethan Jacobs. “Look What You Made Me Do,” the 21-year-old University of Central Florida student wrote on X, referencing a track from Swift’s sixth studio album, reputation.
“Put simply, there is nothing unlawful about GRNDCTRL’s [Sweeny’s company] use of publicly accessible information to track private jets, including those used by public figures like Taylor Swifts,” the letter read. “GRNDCTRL used the same information to track sanctioned Russian oligarchs and Elon Musk….The @taylorswiftjets account is engaged in protected speech that does not violate any of Ms. Swift’s legal rights.”
Look What You Made Me Do pic.twitter.com/kETxWamSP3
— Jack Sweeney (@Jxck_Sweeney) February 19, 2024
Furthermore, Jacobs called out Swift’s legal team for “failing to identify any legal claim,” aside a stalking claim under California law in a footnote.
“The language just before the words you quote explains that a stalker is someone who makes a ‘credible threat’ against a victim,” the letter from Sweeney’s team read.”…Our clients have never made any threats against Ms. Swift and your letter does not suggest they have done so.”
Sweeney’s lawyer noted that Swift’s letters’ “tone of alarm is unfounded,” reiterating that the website only provides information based on information that is publicly available—”pos[ing] no threat to Ms. Swift’s safety.”
Finally, Jacobs called the cease and desist letters a “groundless effort to intimidate and censor our clients.”
He concluded: “We doubt Ms. Swift will pursue meritless legal action, but if she does, we will defend our clients’ rights.”
Student tracking Taylor Swift’s private jet responds to cease and desist
NEW YORK — The college student who made a name — and enemy — for himself tracking Taylor Swift’s private jet is challenging the pop star’s cease and desist letter.
Jack Sweeney, who runs the company GRNDCTRL and ran the now-defunct Instagram account @taylorswiftjets, tweeted his lawyer’s two-page response to Swift’s attorney, Katie Wright Morrone, captioning the letter: “Look What You Made Me Do.” The caption, as Swifties know, was the title of the lead single from the 2017 album “Reputation.”
“Put simply, there is nothing unlawful about GRNDCTRL’s use of publicly accessible information to track private jets, including those used by public figures like Taylor Swift,” states Sweeney’s lawyer, James Slater. “GRNDCTRL used the same information to track sanctioned Russian oligarchs and Elon Musk. … The @taylorswiftjets account is engaged in protected speech that does not violate any of Ms. Swift’s legal rights.”
Sweeney’s camp points out that Morrone failed “to identify any legal claim.
“Only in a footnote … do you flirt with asserting a stalking claim under California law — but the language just before the words you quote explains that a stalker is someone who makes a ‘credible threat’ against a victim,” continues Slater.
In addition to Sweeney and his company having “never made any threats against” the “Anti-Hero” singer, Slater notes that the Morrone’s letter “does not suggest they have done so.
“Further, your letter’s tone of alarm is unfounded,” Slater continues, noting GRNDCTRL “only provides the location of private jets using publicly available information” which “poses no threat” to the superstar.
Slater dismissed Swift’s letter as “a groundless effort to intimidate and censor” Sweeney and his company and pledged to defend both should she “pursue meritless legal action.”
In a subsequent tweet, the University of Central Florida student also shared Morrone’s letter to him from Dec. 22 of last year.
Swift has recently faced renewed criticism for her significant carbon footprint, especially as the flight tracker battle takes center stage. Last month, she sold one of her private jets.
Morrone in her letter called the tracking of Swift’s jets a “life-or-death matter,” claiming there’s “no legitimate interest in or public need for this information, other than to stalk, harass, and exert dominion and control.”
Swift has indeed been stalked multiple times — including as recently as earlier this year, when superfan David Crowe allegedly repeatedly showed up at her Tribeca townhouse.
Taylor Swift’s private jet tracker claps back, saying he’s done ‘nothing unlawful’
One college student has no problem sharing Taylor Swift’s flight paths all too well.
University of Central Florida student Jack Sweeney is pushing back on a cease-and-desist letter sent to him by Swift’s attorney demanding he stop publicly posting the singer’s flights on her jet. The 21-year-old ran the now-defunct Instagram page @taylorswiftjets, where he reported her flight activity using data from various sources of publicly available information.
Swift’s attorney, Katie Wright Morrone, sent multiple letters to Sweeney demanding that he stop tracking and publicly sharing her flight information. In a dismissive reply shared on X on Monday, Sweeney’s attorney said the 22-year-old student and his company, GRNDCTRL, did nothing illegal.
Sweeney captioned the post, “Look What You Made Me Do,” referencing the title track off Swift’s 2017 “Reputation” album. He also shared the two letters sent to him by Swift’s team.
Look What You Made Me Do pic.twitter.com/kETxWamSP3
— Jack Sweeney (@Jxck_Sweeney) February 19, 2024
“Put simply, there is nothing unlawful about GRNDCTRL’s use of publicly accessible information to track private jets, including those by public figures like Taylor Swift,” wrote Sweeney’s attorney, James Slater.
Slater argued that Sweeney’s speech is protected and did not violate any of Swift’s legal rights. He added that GRNDCTRL has also reported flight history for Russian oligarchs and Elon Musk.
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Attorneys rejects claims he posed ‘credible threat’ to Swift
Swift’s attorneys argue that Sweeney’s actions put the popstar at risk by providing up-to-date location information accessible to potential stalkers and would-be harassers.
Slater rejected those claims by clarifying that Sweeney is using information that is already made publicly available. He added that the language in Morrone’s letter defines a stalker as someone who poses a “credible threat” to a victim.
“Our clients have never made any threats against Ms. Swift and your letter does not suggest they have done so,” Slater said. “Further, your letter’s tone is unfounded.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Swift’s representatives for comment.
How is Taylor Swift’s jet being tracked?
Sweeney has multiple social media accounts tracking aircrafts belonging to celebrities, billionaires and politicians, with some even analyzing the carbon footprint of the jet owners’ trips.
The information doesn’t come from one source bur rather uses data pieced together from a few different sources of publicly available information, such as registration information from the Federal Aviation Administration, and broadcast signals from the planes themselves. Those signals are known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, data.
ADS-B technology is required by the Federal Aviation Administration on aircraft and shares real-time position, altitude and other information that is important to air traffic controllers. The data also allows for sites like FlightAware.com to show real-time commercial flight locations.
Contributing: Jeanine Santucci and Christopher Cann
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Taylor Swift’s private jet tracker Jack Sweeney defends posts
