Account banned on Twitter for tracking Elon Musk's private jet is flying free on Zuckerberg's Threads — for now



Jack Sweeney, the man whose account was banned from Twitter for tracking Elon Musk's private jet, has emerged on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg's newly launched social media competitor, Gizmodo and other outlets reported.

Sweeney's first move on the new platform was to tag Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, asking if he would be allowed to stay.

Over the weekend, Sweeney began posting screenshots of what appears to be detailed data and maps tracking Musk's aircraft.

The first two tracking-specific posts showed a takeoff from Austin, Texas, and a landing in Brownsville.

A Monday afternoon post showed a graphical map of the plane supposedly flying from Brownsville to Los Angeles. The Monday post, notably, did not include a panel showing specific data about the flight such as its track, position, ground speed, altitude, and other figures.

"Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info. Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok," Musk tweeted December 14, 2022, just ahead of Twitter permanently suspending Sweeney.

Musk announced a plan to take legal action against Sweeney in the same thread, saying a "crazy stalker" had followed a car carrying his son, as TheBlaze reported.

"Last night, car carrying lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving & climbed onto hood. Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family," Musk tweeted December 14, 2022.

— (@)

Musk added a video of the driver that included a shot of the car and the car's license plate, asking if anyone recognized the person or the car.

"Remember when Elon said he would sue me. Just another empty threat," Sweeney said, apparently taunting Musk in a post to his Threads account.

Sweeney appended a screenshot of an article with the headline "Twitter threatens to sue Meta over rival Threads app."

Sweeney's Threads account had six posts as of Monday afternoon.

Meta Platforms' Threads, a direct competitor to Twitter, launched Thursday.

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'The people have spoken': Elon Musk reinstates suspended journalists, mocks media's 'newfound love of freedom of speech'



Elon Musk reinstated the Twitter accounts of several journalists after a public poll. Musk previously suspended the accounts after accusing the journalists of doxxing his exact location in real time.

The Twitter accounts of CNN's Donie O’Sullivan, the New York Times, Ryan Mac, the Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, leftwing journalist Aaron Rupar, and liberal commentator Keith Olbermann were suspended on Thursday.

Musk accused those Twitter accounts of doxxing his exact location in real time.

"They posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service," he declared. "Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not."

The controversy stems from the Twitter user @ElonJet – the account run by college student Jack Sweeney that posted real-time updates and locations of Musk’s private jet.

Business Insider reported, "The billionaire and new Twitter owner does seem to have opted into a program offered by the Federal Aviation Association called Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed, or LADD, in an effort to limit some information about his aircraft."

On Wednesday, a "crazy stalker" hounded a vehicle with Musk's son inside, presumably thinking the Tesla CEO would be in the car.

Musk threatened, "Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family."

Musk suspended the Twitter accounts of the journalists on Thursday, and later that day, ran a poll to his 121 million Twitter followers that asked how long to "unsuspend accounts who doxxed my exact location in real time."

The poll – which had nearly 3.7 million Twitter users vote – resulted in 58.7% voting to reinstate the journalists' accounts "now" versus 41.3% who advocated for reinstatement in seven days.

\u201cUnsuspend accounts who doxxed my exact location in real-time\u201d
— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1671165265

Early Saturday morning, Musk announced that he would reinstate the accounts of the suspended journalists.

Musk tweeted, "The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now."

He added, "Quite frankly, a few days away from Twitter is good for their mental health."

Olbermann attempted to circumvent his ban by posting a video on a Twitter account dedicated to his dog.

Musk commented, "Olbermann tweeting from his dog’s account still makes me lmao."

Musk mocked the media on Friday, "So inspiring to see the newfound love of freedom of speech by the press."

The SpaceX CEO agreed with independent journalist Glenn Greenwald, who stated, "I've never seen an orgy of hypocrisy quite as brazen as how the exact same media corporations and journalists who spent years demanding more Big Tech censorship turned *overnight* into free speech champions: because now it's their friends being silenced rather than their enemies."

Elon Musk vows 'legal action' against jet-tracking college student after 'crazy stalker' allegedly follows car transporting Musk's son, climbs on hood



On Wednesday evening, Elon Musk announced that he plans to take legal action against the college student who runs a Twitter account that tracks his private jet after a "crazy stalker" followed a vehicle that was transporting Musk's son, the Associated Press reported.

Jack Sweeney, a 20-year-old college sophomore and programmer, started the account on social media, @ElonJet, to post every time Musk's plane takes off or lands using publicly available flight-tracking information.

"Last night, car carrying lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving & climbed onto hood," Musk tweeted, referring to his son, X Æ A-12.

"Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family," he added.

Musk posted a video of the alleged stalker and asked users if anyone recognized him or the vehicle he was driving.

\u201cAnyone recognize this person or car?\u201d
— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1671065293

The Los Angeles Police Department told the New York Post police do not have any information regarding the incident.

The account, which has more than 500,000 followers, was suspended Wednesday morning and then briefly reactivated before being suspended again on Wednesday evening. Sweeney's personal account was also suspended for violating Twitter's rules "against platform manipulation and spam."

According to Musk, live tracking of someone's whereabouts poses a safety risk and will no longer be tolerated on the social media platform.

"Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info," Musk wrote. "Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn't a safety problem, so is ok."

Sweeney also runs several other Twitter accounts tracking the flight information of public figures, including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Russian oligarchs. The flight-tracking accounts also report fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Since Musk's announcement, those accounts have been suspended.

Shortly after purchasing Twitter, Musk stated that he was committed to promoting free speech on the platform, even if it meant allowing @ElonJet to continue posting his location information.

"My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk," Musk stated at the time.

Sweeney stated that Musk made a mistake by going back on his promise to keep his account up.

"He really is asking for it because it's just going to get worse in the news," Sweeney told the New York Post. "He's going to be called a full-on hypocrite."

Twitter Suspends Account Tracking Elon Musk’s Jet That He Once Defended On ‘Free Speech’ Grounds

Musk has publicly bristled at @ElonJet for publicizing his travel

Teen tracking Elon Musk's private jet plans to track other billionaires, too — for money



The teenager who recently rose to internet fame for operating a Twitter account that tracks billionaire Elon Musk's private jet is now planning to track the private flights of other billionaires, as well.

What are the details?

Jack Sweeney, 19, made headlines last week after it was revealed that Musk direct-messaged him on Twitter, offering him $5,000 to take down @ElonJet, a Twitter bot set up by Sweeney that monitors the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's private flight activity.

In response, Sweeney, a freshman student at the University of Central Florida, asked Musk if he would up the offer to $50,000, enough money to pay for some of his college education or buy a Tesla Model 3 vehicle. Alternatively, he said he would take down the account for free if Musk offered him an internship.

But the tech billionaire — whose net worth is more than $240 billion — went silent and later blocked him on all of his social media accounts.

Sweeney recently told Bloomberg News he hopes Musk rejoins the bargaining table, but in the meantime, he is launching a business — called Ground Control — that will monitor the private flights of other high-interest individuals.

Bloomberg noted that Sweeney's part-time hobby may indeed turn into a lucrative business venture.

"Firms including Nasdaq Data Link have begun offering private and corporate aviation intelligence to clients who hope to get a leg up with critical business information," the outlet reported, noting that the flight activity of important individuals can provide clues about forthcoming business activities such as mergers, acquisitions, and more.

"Companies in flight tracking have made millions in revenue per year," Sweeney said, adding, "Just a small cut of what they make would be good revenue for me."

What else?

The 19-year-old runs at least 15 flight-tracking bots on Twitter in addition to @ElonJet, including jet trackers for billionaires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos and former President Donald Trump.

But Bloomberg noted that the real-time flight tracking of private aircraft can come with significant privacy and legal concerns.

Sweeney, however, reportedly has no plans to take down @ElonJet, which he started working on in high school. At the least, he told Bloomberg, it would take a lot more than $5,000 for him to deactivate it.

"The amount of time and dedication I have put into it is cool — like, 5K isn't enough to drop it," he said.

As of Tuesday morning, the account was still up and running. The most recent flight tracked said Musk's jet landed near Brownsville, Texas, on Sunday night.