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Twitter Suspends Account That Tracked Elon Musk’s Private Jet
Mr. Musk previously said he wouldn’t suspend the @ElonJet account
Twitter Inc. has suspended an account on its platform that tracked the private jet of Elon Musk, the social-media giant’s new owner.
A message on the @ElonJet account says the account was suspended for violating Twitter’s rules. The account had about 500,000 followers.
Twitter didn’t respond to a request for comment.
T he automated account was run by Jack Sweeney, a student at the University of Central Florida. Using public data from plane transponders that log longitude, latitude and altitude, Mr. Sweeney, in 2020, created an algorithm that calculates the whereabouts of a private jet belonging to Mr. Musk.
“Well it appears @ElonJet is suspended,” Mr. Sweeney said in a tweet on his personal account.
Mr. Sweeney on Wednesday shared a screenshot of his account with a message saying it was permanently suspended.
Mr. Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Inc. and a self-proclaimed free-speech absolutist, had previously said he wouldn’t suspend the account.
“My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk,” Mr. Musk said in a tweet last month.
Mr. Sweeney said in an interview that the suspension caught him off guard because of Mr. Musk’s previous comments. Mr. Sweeney said he thinks the suspension will result in bad publicity for Mr. Musk, given his views on free speech.
“They are going to say he’s a hypocrite,” Mr. Sweeney said.
Mr. Sweeney said it was still unclear to him why @ElonJet was suspended.
“It just shows they can play the rules how they want,” Mr. Sweeney said.
Mr. Sweeney also runs automated Twitter accounts tracking planes owned by Russian oligarchs and aircraft associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The @PutinJet and @RUOligarchJets accounts, which were created after Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, are still active on Twitter.
His account tracking the jets of celebrities, @CelebJets, is also still active.
Mr. Sweeney said he would continue to run similar accounts tracking Mr. Musk’s jet on Instagram, Facebook and Telegram. He plans to launch a similar account on social-media site Mastodon as well, he said.
The @ElonJet account has long rankled Mr. Musk. Mr. Sweeney previously said Mr. Musk asked him in November 2021 to shut down the @ElonJet account.
M r. Sweeney said Mr. Musk offered him $5,000 to close the account, according to screenshots of the conversation Mr. Sweeney shared with The Wall Street Journal, which couldn’t independently verify their authenticity.
He countered and asked Mr. Musk for $50,000 and later an internship, Mr. Sweeney said. Mr. Musk blocked him on social media in January, Mr. Sweeney said.
In an interview with the Journal in February, Mr. Sweeney said he would take the account down in exchange for a Tesla.
On Saturday, Mr. Sweeney said on Twitter that an anonymous Twitter employee told him earlier this month that the company was restricting the visibility of the @ElonJet account. By Monday, Mr. Sweeney said all the restrictions appeared to be lifted on the account.
Source:https://apple.news/AnzfXIYFbQjCyW6MmE8irjA
Mr. Musk previously said he wouldn’t suspend the @ElonJet account
Twitter Inc. has suspended an account on its platform that tracked the private jet of Elon Musk, the social-media giant’s new owner.
A message on the @ElonJet account says the account was suspended for violating Twitter’s rules. The account had about 500,000 followers.
Twitter didn’t respond to a request for comment.
T he automated account was run by Jack Sweeney, a student at the University of Central Florida. Using public data from plane transponders that log longitude, latitude and altitude, Mr. Sweeney, in 2020, created an algorithm that calculates the whereabouts of a private jet belonging to Mr. Musk.
“Well it appears @ElonJet is suspended,” Mr. Sweeney said in a tweet on his personal account.
Mr. Sweeney on Wednesday shared a screenshot of his account with a message saying it was permanently suspended.
Mr. Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Inc. and a self-proclaimed free-speech absolutist, had previously said he wouldn’t suspend the account.
“My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk,” Mr. Musk said in a tweet last month.
Mr. Sweeney said in an interview that the suspension caught him off guard because of Mr. Musk’s previous comments. Mr. Sweeney said he thinks the suspension will result in bad publicity for Mr. Musk, given his views on free speech.
“They are going to say he’s a hypocrite,” Mr. Sweeney said.
Mr. Sweeney said it was still unclear to him why @ElonJet was suspended.
“It just shows they can play the rules how they want,” Mr. Sweeney said.
Mr. Sweeney also runs automated Twitter accounts tracking planes owned by Russian oligarchs and aircraft associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The @PutinJet and @RUOligarchJets accounts, which were created after Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, are still active on Twitter.
His account tracking the jets of celebrities, @CelebJets, is also still active.
Mr. Sweeney said he would continue to run similar accounts tracking Mr. Musk’s jet on Instagram, Facebook and Telegram. He plans to launch a similar account on social-media site Mastodon as well, he said.
The @ElonJet account has long rankled Mr. Musk. Mr. Sweeney previously said Mr. Musk asked him in November 2021 to shut down the @ElonJet account.
M r. Sweeney said Mr. Musk offered him $5,000 to close the account, according to screenshots of the conversation Mr. Sweeney shared with The Wall Street Journal, which couldn’t independently verify their authenticity.
He countered and asked Mr. Musk for $50,000 and later an internship, Mr. Sweeney said. Mr. Musk blocked him on social media in January, Mr. Sweeney said.
In an interview with the Journal in February, Mr. Sweeney said he would take the account down in exchange for a Tesla.
On Saturday, Mr. Sweeney said on Twitter that an anonymous Twitter employee told him earlier this month that the company was restricting the visibility of the @ElonJet account. By Monday, Mr. Sweeney said all the restrictions appeared to be lifted on the account.
Source:https://apple.news/AnzfXIYFbQjCyW6MmE8irjA
