'Taylor Swift is right to be concerned' about private jet tracking, Elon Musk says

By Weston Blasi

Swift recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to a college student known for using publicly available aviation data to track private jets

'Taylor Swift is right to be concerned.'

That was Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (TSLA) and executive chairman of X, commenting on Taylor Swift pursuing legal action against a person who is helping others track her private jet.

In December, Swift's representation sent a cease-and-desist letter to the tracker, 21-year-old Jack Sweeney, and accused him of potentially tipping off stalkers to her location, according to the Associated Press.

The letter accuses Sweeney of "disregarding the personal safety of others," and "intentional, offensive, and outrageous conduct and consistent violations of our client's privacy."

See also: Disney leans into 'Moana,' Taylor Swift and 'Fortnite' for future growth

Musk has publicly feuded with Sweeney over his private jet tracking, which also tracks jets from high profile individuals like Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Meta's (META) Mark Zuckerberg and former President Donald Trump, among others. Sweeney's tracker, which is automated, uses public information from the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as data from a community of aviation enthusiasts using ADS-B receivers, and posts it on his website.

"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," Sweeney said about Swift.

The Tesla CEO once offered Sweeney $5,000 to stop tracking his jet, but Sweeney refused. Musk stated in 2022 that while he wanted to ban Sweeney's Twitter account for posting about his jet, he would not due to his commitment to free speech. Musk later reversed course and banned Sweeney's account, before reinstating it with a 24-hour delay.

Representatives for Swift did not immediately respond to MarketWatch's request for comment.

Sweeney responded to MarketWatch by detailing the ADS-B signals used in his tracking

Taylor Swift and airplanes have also been in the news lately because she is set to perform in Japan this week, and then fly to Las Vegas just in time to attend the Super Bowl, a game that will feature her boyfriend Travis Kelce, who is on the Kansas City Chiefs.

Read on: Super Bowl quarterback Brock Purdy made $870,000 this season - 16 college football players made more via NIL

-Weston Blasi

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02-08-24 1029ET

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