Elon Musk is tracked by a college student. The student said that he has done this for many years because he’s a big fan. Now the billionaire threatens to sue him.

Jack Sweeney, Elon MuskJack Sweeney, and Getty
Jack Sweeney claimed that he began tracking Elon Musk’s jet because he liked the Tesla CEO. In the past, Sweeney expressed admiration for Musk.

Jack Sweeney claimed that he began tracking Elon Musk’s private jet in 2020 as a fan. Two years later, Elon Musk’s billionaire has threatened to sue him for suspending his Twitter accounts.

Sweney’s @ElonJet account, which tracks Musk’s plane has attracted nearly 500,000 followers. It also spawned more than 30 other jet-tracking accounts, many of which follow celebrities such as Taylor Swift and Donald Trump. His jet-tracking accounts have made Sweney headlines and earned him job offers.

Jack Sweeney stated to Insider that he didn’t mean to cause any harm, and that was never the intended purpose for the accounts. “I’m just sharing public information. The whole purpose of the account was originally created because I was a fan.”

In the past, the 20-year old expressed admiration for Musk and said that Twitter would be “probably beneficial” for it when the billionaire purchased it. However, he may not have the same opinion for his jet-tracking accounts. Sweeney stated that he is disappointed by the end of the relationship. He had hoped that Musk would get back to him when he first reached out about @ElonJet earlier in the year.

Sweeney stated Wednesday that if he were the same age, he could do something similar to me.”

Twitter suspended Sweney’s account to track Musk’s private plane. It also suspended his personal account and more than 30 other jet-tracking account accounts. Sweeney was temporarily reinstated by @ElonJet later that day. He received an email stating that the account had been suspended in order to “prevent real-time location sharing”. The 20-year old was also told to refer to the updated policy on location sharing to avoid any further account restrictions. The account was again suspended a few hours later after @ElonJet tweeted asking how much time he needed to delay the location data in order to not violate the policy.

Twitter has updated its privacy policy to ban users from sharing live locations of others on Wednesday.

Musk also tweeted the same night that a “crazy follower” had followed his car in which his son, X AEA-Xii, was reportedly riding. Musk stated that Sweeney was being sued and that he was being prosecuted by “organizations that supported harm to my family”.

Insider reached Musk and a Twitter spokesperson for no immediate comment.

December 15, 2022, Elon Musk (@elonmusk).

Insider was told by Sweeney that he wouldn’t call for anyone to harass or hurt Musk.

He said, “I have never supported harm.” “I managed an account that posted public information, and I wasn’t saying to go follow this person or other stuff like that.”

Sweeney uses bots for public flight data. This is information that would not otherwise be possible to find via ADS-B Exchange. The tracking data from accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Mastodon is also shared by the college student.

Sweeney stated that he wasn’t concerned at the threat of legal action because he believes there isn’t enough ground for him (Musk) to stand on.”

Insider was told by Erik Gordon, a professor of business law at the University of Michigan. He said that Musk does not have a strong legal case but that a lawsuit could prove costly to Sweeney.

Business Insider has the original article.
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By: gkay@insider.com (Grace Kay,Sam Tabahriti)
Title: College student who tracks Elon Musk’s private jet said he started doing it years ago because he was a fan. Now the billionaire is threatening to sue him.
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/jack-sweeney-started-tracking-elon-musk-jet-twitter-as-fan-2022-12
Published Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2022 15:26:17 +0000