Twitter CEO Elon Musk revealed Sunday night that he has no plans to suspend an account dedicated to tracking the movements of his private jet – despite describing it as a security threat on multiple occasions.
Musk has pledged to re-emphasize free speech principles at Twitter after buying the company for $44 billion. The billionaire stated that he views the account – created by college student Jack Sweeney – as part of that pledge.
“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 tweeted.
The Post has reached out to Sweeney for comment.
The @ElonJet Twitter account has amassed nearly 500,000 followers. Sweeney, a student at the University of Central Florida, created a bot that uses publicly available flight data to track Musk’s private jet as it relocates to different airports.
“Thank you backing your commitment to free speech. Overwhelmingly the followers of my account are supporters and admirers of your endeavors. Which was my (@JxckSweeney) motivation for creating @ElonJet,” Sweeney tweeted in response to Musk.
As The Post reported, Musk contacted Sweeney last year through Twitter direct messages and offered him $5,000 to delete the account. The billionaire described the account as a “security risk” that could put his life in jeopardy.
“I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase,” Musk said at the time.
Sweeney made a counter-offer of $50,000. Musk said he would consider the offer, but later said it didn’t “feel right” and stopped responding to his messages.
Sweeney parlayed the exchange into other opportunities, including a job offer and merchandise sales. He also operates similar accounts tracking other notable figures, from Bill Gates and other billionaires to Russian oligarchs.
The jet-tracking account has also caused other headaches for Musk. In August, the Twitter boss faced a public backlash after the account showed his private jet had completed a nine-minute flight from San Jose to San Francisco.
In a recent column for Newsweek, Sweeney said he hasn’t had any interaction with Musk since he bought Twitter – and plans to continue operating his account as normal.
“I’m not worried now that Musk owns Twitter. If he banned ElonJet, the news would be all over it, so I don’t think he will do it. That being said, there’s always a chance. I put out a poll recently, and some of my followers think my account will be banned,” Sweeney wrote.
“I’m not going to stop,” Sweeney added.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
