Taylor Swift Lawsuit Threat Has a Problem

Taylor Swift's attorneys served a cease-and-desist letter to a college student who tracks her private jet usage—but her lawsuit threat has one glaring problem.

Jack Sweeney recently wrote about the environmental impact of travel tied to Swift's relationship with Kansas City Chief's tight end Travis Kelce and her record-breaking Eras Tour. According to Sweeney's X (formerly Twitter) account, Taylor Swift Jets (@SwiftJetNextDay), the 34-year-old's private jet flights produced 77.8342 tons of carbon dioxide between December 25 and January 30 alone.

To avoid falling foul of the social media platform's rules, Sweeney shares information on trips taken by Swift's private jets 24 hours after they've been taken. The University of Central Florida student accomplishes this by using Federal Aviation Administration data that is publicly available.

However, Swift's attorneys have claimed that Sweeney's social media accounts are helping her stalkers and endangering her safety, according to The Washington Post. They have threatened to file a lawsuit if Sweeney doesn't stop monitoring her trips.

But Swift's legal team has one issue, according to Frank Salzano, managing partner of Salzano Ettinger Lampert & Wilson, LLP, a boutique entertainment and sports law firm based in Manhattan.

"This matter raises novel legal issues due to the fact that the college student is technically not violating any of Swift's privacy rights since the data is publicly available and is simply being posted on social media by the student," he told Newsweek in a statement.

"However, it is important to note that the laws and legal precedent typically lag technological advances in society. As the law needs to play catch up, accordingly, it is possible that laws may get implemented in the future making the student's conduct illegal, but I see no viable legal theory currently that would entitle Swift to any redress."

Newsweek contacted Swift's publicist via email for comment Friday.

Sweeney, the student threatened with a lawsuit from Swift's legal team, previously told Newsweek that there is legitimate public interest in his posts.

He has created several social media accounts that track and log the comings and goings of aircraft owned by politicians and celebrities, including Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner.

"Swift's team suggests that I have no legitimate interest in sharing jet information, which is fundamentally incorrect," he told Newsweek. "Her fans, who have grown the TaylorSwiftJets accounts and subreddit, are the ones truly interested. These tracking accounts consistently have more supporters and fans."

Sweeney said that an example of fan and news interest in Swift's travels is the fact that all eyes are on the epic journey she is expected to take should she plan to support her partner Kelce in person during Sunday's Super Bowl LVIII, where the Chiefs face the San Francisco 49ers.

Swift is performing in Tokyo between February 7 and 10 and following the final show, she is expected to jump on a U.S.-bound flight soon afterward to make the approximate 11.5-hour flight that would get her to Las Vegas in time for the game.

"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," Sweeney told Newsweek. "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."

The pop superstar's private jet usage has been a talking point for years. In 2022, she faced backlash after a report by environmentally oriented marketing firm Yard found at that time that her extensive use of a private jet made her the biggest celebrity polluter of the year so far.

"Taylor's jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals," a spokesperson for Swift told Newsweek at the time. "To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect."