Musk & Swift’s Private Jet Details Now Protected Under New Rules

A new system has been implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that permits private jet owners to maintain the privacy of their registration details, including their name and address. This action may make it more difficult for celebrity jet trackers, who have historically connected private aircraft to well-known people like Taylor Swift and Elon Musk using FAA registration data.

The modification is a result of the FAA Renewal Act of 2024, which required that the agency provide a procedure for aircraft operators and owners to request the privacy of their personal data. Despite having two years to put the system in place, the FAA has already done so.

Making privacy the default setting for all private aircraft registrations is an even more significant step that the FAA is thinking about taking. The agency is considering the option, but no decision has been made yet. Under the Biden administration, the measure was signed into law in May 2024.

It is expected that this change will make it more difficult for celebrity jet tracking accounts, which use FAA registration information to link private aircraft to well-known people and track their flight paths. Accounts monitoring the use of jets by Kim Kardashian, Mark Zuckerberg, Taylor Swift, Elon Musk, and others have become very popular in recent years. But they have also been banned from using platforms that are owned by Zuckerberg and Musk.

In 2023, one of the most well-known conflicts occurred when Taylor Swift delivered a cease-and-desist letter to Jack Sweeney, the person behind a number of popular jet-tracking accounts. The new privacy scheme implemented by the FAA may make it much more difficult to monitor celebrity flights.