Elon Musk Takes Legal Action Against Student Tracking His Jet

Twitter CEO and proprietor Elon Musk is taking authorized motion in opposition to Jack Sweeney, the University of Central Florida scholar who tracks his non-public airplane and publishes his flight data on social media underneath the @ElonJet banner.

Musk introduced his intentions on Twitter Wednesday night hours after the social media platform completely suspended the @ElonJet account and Sweeney’s private account. In a tweet, Musk stated {that a} “crazy stalker” had adopted the automobile his 2-year-old son, X, was driving in on Tuesday night time in Los Angeles. The perpetrator reportedly blocked the automobile from transferring and climbed onto the hood.

“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 wrote. “Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family.”

The billionaire later posted a video of the alleged perpetrator, who’s carrying a black hoodie and a half-cover ski masks, in addition to his license plate. He requested his greater than 120 million followers in the event that they acknowledged the particular person or automobile.

In addition, Musk on Wednesday additionally revealed a change to Twitter’s coverage on the sharing of real-time data, stating that “any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended.” The Twitter proprietor stated that sharing an individual’s real-time location was a “physical safety violation.”

Accounts that put up hyperlinks to websites with real-time location data will even be banned, the billionaire defined.

What occurred to @ElonJet? 

Tensions over the way forward for the @ElonJet account on Twitter turned the most recent scandal on the Musk-owned social community in latest days. The drama started when Sweeney accused Twitter of shadowbanning @ElonJet this previous weekend. By Monday, Sweeney stated that @ElonJet appeared to have its visibility again, main him to imagine that Twitter had reversed course. That was not the case. Instead, it was the start of a curler coaster journey.

Early on Wednesday, customers started to note that the @ElonJet account had been suspended, which Sweeney later confirmed. On Wednesday night, @ElonJet returned briefly, tweeting: “Wait Hello? How long does delay mean @elonmusk… hour? we need some well defined rules.”

Hours later @ElonJet and Sweeney’s private Twitter account have been completely suspended once more. The scholar’s different airplane trackers, devoted to following high-profile folks like Drake, Jeff Bezos, and Taylor Swift, have been additionally suspended.

Musk’s choice to ban @ElonJet comes roughly a month after he stated he wouldn’t ban the account within the identify of “free speech.” His tweeted commitment to not ban the account now features a Community Note that factors out Musk’s flip flopping on the problem.

“My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk,” the Twitter CEO wrote on Nov. 6.

What’s the historical past between Musk and Sweeney?

Musk’s beef with Sweeney dates back to January of the this yr, when he messaged the coed on Twitter to ask him to take down the @ElonJet account as a result of it was a “security risk.” At the time, Musk provided Sweeney $5,000 to delete the account, stating that he didn’t need “crazy people” monitoring his flights.

“I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase,” Musk instructed the coed.

Sweeney rejected Musk’s provide and as an alternative requested the billionaire for $50,000, which he stated he may use to pay for school or maybe purchase a Tesla Model 3. The scholar additionally recommended that Musk may provide him an internship in alternate for taking down the account. Musk didn’t like every of these choices and blocked Sweeney on Twitter.

Sweeney initially began monitoring Musk’s airplane as a result of he was a fan of the billionaire. His strategies are removed from nefarious. Sweeney’s tracker, which continues to be out there on Facebook and Instagram, makes use of data from ADS-B exchange, a hobbyist website that gathers public transponder information from completely different plane.

The scholar instructed The New York Times on Wednesday that he didn’t share Musk’s opinion concerning the security dangers posed by his tracker.

“If someone wanted to do something, they could do it without me,” Sweeney stated.