A TikTok claiming that Taylor Swift took a 40-second flight on her private jet has gone viral online. The claim, which is unverified, comes after the singer received significant scrutiny over her private jet usage.
Newsweek has reached out to a representative for Swift for comment.
Why It Matters
Swift has been widely criticized for her private jet usage over the past few years.
Maya Dehlin Spach/FilmMagic
An Instagram account run by Jack Sweeney was dedicated to tracking her private jet usage. The account was taken down after Swift’s team previously raised serious security concerns regarding the discourse around her flight usage.
Her lawyers previously suggested that videos posted by Sweeney were aiding her stalkers and threatening her safety, and that she and her family suffered “direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress” as a result of his tracker account, according to The Washington Post.
What To Know
A TikTok video alleging that Swift took a 40-second flight was first posted by the account theblendingspot in January of this year.
The claim that Swift took this flight is not verified or supported by any evidence. The video itself is just of a simulated plane flight, not a video of a plane flying in real life, and the post doesn’t reference any sources that may support the claim.
However, it reflects the continued public fascination with her private jet usage and how this fascination can lead to misinformation online.
In many cases, details about private plane flights, including those used by high-profile celebrities, are publicly available in the U.S. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) maintains a database of aircraft registration and flight data, and tools to track flights using publicly accessible transponder data.
The Instagram account run by Sweeney was known to use these tools. However, it is unclear whether recent videos about Swift’s jet usage have made use of these tools, or if they are just making claims about Swift’s jet usage without verification.
In 2022, Swift faced backlash after a report by the environmentally focused marketing firm Yard found that her extensive use of a private jet made her the biggest celebrity polluter of the year at that time.
The report used publicly available data to compile a list of the top greenhouse gas-emitting celebrities, based on their routine use of private jets. Swift came out on top, with a total of 170 flights on her private jet that added up to nearly 16 days in the air.
A spokesperson for Swift told Newsweek at the time that her jet is regularly loaned out to other people, and it is “blatantly incorrect,” to attribute all of that usage to her.
Criticism of her flight usage intensified after she began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in 2023 and frequently flew to watch him play in NFL games.
What People Are Saying
One social media user on X, responding to the 40-second flight claim: “It’s likely a “repositioning flight,” not entirely what you’re suggesting. Very common in private aviation when the planes follow an individual. Same “effect” on the climate, though!”
Another social media user on X: “I’m no fan of celebrity hypocrites, but to believe she was actually on this flight is almost certainly not true.”
Another social media user on X: “So much pollution.”
What’s Next
Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour ended back in December of 2024. Her fans are frequently speculating about when her next album will be released.