Taylor Swift versus a little web (and carbon) genius, it's the showdown we didn't expect. However, the singer's lawyers are threatening Jack Sweeney , a student in his twenties, with legal action for "harassment". Concretely, they accuse the Californian of tracking down Taylor Swift's private jet, as he does for other extremely wealthy public figures with a heavy carbon footprint. “This may all be a game to you, or a business from which you hope for fortune or fame, but it is a matter of life and death for our client,” writes Katie Wright Morrone, one of the lawyers by Taylor Swift, in a letter addressed to the young man reported by the Washington Post .
She specifies that the data shared by Jack Sweeney presents “no legitimate interest or public need” and therefore constitutes an approach of “stalking, harassment and exercise of domination and control”. The lawyers therefore ask the young man to stop “immediately providing the public with information on the location of [their] client”.
Jack Sweeney became famous for his careful tracking of billionaires' journeys to measure their carbon footprint. It relies on public data from the Federal Aviation Administration. If he also monitors the jets of Bill Gates , Jeff Bezos , Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk - against whom he has already fought - Taylor Swift's lawyers believe that he is committing real "harassment" towards Taylor Swift.
They claim that tracking her plane puts her in a “constant state of fear for her personal safety,” as she is already the subject of numerous attacks. Victim of pornographic deep-fake and harassment, enemy of Republicans and other fervent supporters of Donald Trump , America's darling little girl who has become queen of pop has more and more detractors.
She can nevertheless count on the unwavering support of her fans, delighted to have seen her awarded the Best Album of the Year prize at the Grammy Awards for the fourth time. A record.
Jack Sweeney doesn't care much about his music. He points the finger at her as a major polluter: according to a survey carried out by Yard cited by Euronews , “her plane had emitted 8,300 tonnes of carbon emissions in 2022, or 1,184 times the total annual emissions of a average person.” In the next few days, the singer should further explode her CO 2 balance to meet her schedule obligations: on Saturday, she will be in concert in Tokyo as part of her triumphant The Eras Tour.
The next day, she will be in Las Vegas to cheer on her boyfriend, American football player Travis Kelce , from the stands at the Super Bowl . In addition to this very personal example, Tree Paine , spokesperson for the star, told the Washington Post that she has the habit of lending her jet to other people. In addition, she would have purchased “more than double the carbon credits necessary to offset all the travel on her world tour.”
The singer's lawyers also believe that the hunt for Jack Sweeney gives fodder to his harassers, who can scrutinize his movements. Tree Paine told the Guardian : “We cannot comment on an ongoing police investigation, but we can confirm that the stalkers' timeline suggests [that there is a link to Jack Sweeney's posts]. Her messages indicate exactly when and where she is. » In their initial letter, the lawyers believe that the student provides a real “road map” to “individuals intending to harm him, or having harmful or violent intentions […] to carry out their plans.
Violation of personal security, willful harassment, violation of privacy... The Californian spoke about this pressure, visibly not worried. To the BBC , he claims to have “no intention to do harm”: “In fact, I think Swift makes good songs. I believe in transparency and public information. » The young man specifies that he himself was targeted by death threats when he began to share the details of Taylor Swift's carbon footprint. Details which, according to him, do not allow it to be located and are equivalent to the geographical data induced by his concert schedule in the four corners of the world.
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