Taylor Swift Fans Furiously Attack Jack Sweeney: 'Rot in Jail'

A number of Taylor Swift fans have banded together to condemn a Florida college student, after the pop star threatened to take legal action against him for tracking and publicly posting information about her private jet flights.

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

His accounts gained traction two years ago amid the February 2022 start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as he tracked the private jets of Russian oligarchs. Sweeney has also shared the estimated carbon footprints of flights, as public figures continue to face criticism of the environmental impact of their luxury travels.

At the time, it was revealed that Sweeney had been using publicly available aerospace telemetry on the ADS-B website, as well as a sophisticated program he's made to match transponder frequencies and separately available anonymous flight plans, to track the private flights of the mega-rich.

In late 2022, Sweeney, 21, made headlines when he got into a high-profile spat with Elon Musk for tracking the billionaire's private jet. The quarrel saw Musk subsequently ban Sweeney's ElonJet account on X, formerly Twitter.

Sweeney has now found an even higher profile detractor in Swift, whose lawyers have issued him with a cease-and-desist letter, in which they branded his actions "reckless." The lawyers also stated that Swift lives "in a constant state of fear for her personal safety." Last month, a man was arrested for allegedly stalking Swift.

"While this may be a game for you or an avenue that you hope will earn you wealth or fame, it is a life-or-death matter," the lawyers wrote to Sweeney in the letter, which was shared by the student with NBC News.

While Swift's lawyers accused Sweeney of "stalking and harassing behavior" in the missive, he told NBC News that the purpose of his accounts is to provide "transparency." Sweeney also said that he uses data that is publicly available from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

"I think it's important to note that nowhere do I intend for harm, I simply share the facts," Sweeney told NBC News. "I actually think Swift has some good songs."

However, Sweeney's explanation does not appear to have been good enough for Swift's fans, who dub themselves "Swifties." The star's fans flocked to one of Sweeney's recent posts regarding Swift's private jet travel on X to share their thoughts.

"Look what came in the mail today from the FAA, the registration documents for N898TS and N621MM. It includes Taylor Swift signing off on N898TS," Sweeney wrote, alongside photos of the documents he received from the FAA via the Freedom of Information Act.

"Hope you rot in jail," one X user shot back in response to the post.

"You're obsessed with [Swift]," another told Sweeney. "On your page you track planes that are not even in her name to speculate if she is there.

"Fun fact, with other celebrities you just track what's in their names ... STALKER. You hide with your environmentalism but the truth is that you are a stalker."

Another opined that it's "indefensible to post Taylor Swift's location in real time knowing full well she has dangerous stalkers. Jack could track carbon [emissions] without sharing Taylor's location."

Musk also weighed in on the matter, writing in response to another post that Sweeney "is an awful human being. Taylor Swift is right to be concerned."

Hitting back, Sweeney responded to Musk by referring to the billionaire's rejected offer of $5,000 for him to take down his ElonJet account.

"Let's remember you offered me 5k to stop," Sweeney said. "Also threatened to sue me, and here we are a year later." He tagged Musk in a follow-up post, in an apparent bid to capture the Tesla CEO's attention.

Sweeney responded again to Musk's X post by sharing a screenshot of a Business Insider article published in November that reported how singer "resorted to tracking Elon Musk's private jets in attempt to serve him with custody papers." Grimes has three children with Musk.

"So now we know why," Sweeney captioned the screenshot.

Newsweek has contacted representatives of Swift, Musk and Sweeney via email for comment.

While Sweeney attracted his fair share of detractors, a number of X users also spoke out in his defense.

"Aircraft registrations are completely public information," read one post. "No laws are being violated. You only have to pay the administrative fee (its like a few bucks) and the FAA will send you a disc containing the info."

Echoing that sentiment, another stated: "When you get a private plane your flights become public information."

Seeing both sides of the argument, another commented that Sweeney "should continue his work but delay releasing her location until after she's left the location or whatever time is safe. His priority should be on the emissions."

While Sweeney has maintained certain flight information accounts on other social media platforms, he has worked around X's ban on live tracking celebrity jets by posting updates on Swift and Musk's travels on a 24-hour delay.