ElonJet creator criticizes CEO’s mentality behind plane tracking

Steve Jurvetson from Los Altos, USA, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Jack Sweeney, the creator of ElonJet, the controversial tracker that gave updates on the Tesla CEO’s private jet location, believes that Musk’s mentality regarding airline tracking is one-sided.

Sweeney said earlier this week that he would report a Tweet tracking the location of NFL football team the New York Jets’ plane, which had various team employees aboard.

“I’m gonna have to report this,” Sweeney Tweeted. “If I get banned for posting it live, so will others.”

The original Tweet has been taken down as it has been deemed a violation of Twitter rules. Business Insider reported that Twitter, in an emailed response, stated @HoggNFL, which posted the Tweet, “hasn’t broken any safety policies.”

This prompted a harsh reaction from Sweeney, who said, “Either Twitter moderation is bad at its job, or they only care about the live location rule when it’s in Musk’s interest.” This was before the Tweet was taken down.

Teslarati reached out to Sweeney to see if he had a follow-up statement now that the Tweet has been removed, but we didn’t receive a response immediately. We will update this article if we hear back.

Sweeney’s accounts tracked more than Musk’s plane. It also tracked that of Mark Zuckerberg and other high-profile celebrities as the information Sweeney posted was public.

However, Musk was not a fan of the idea and said it was a security issue. Sweeney’s account was suspended last year as it was deemed a “physical safety violation,” but earlier in 2022, Musk offered the college student $5,000 to turn off the account and stop posting the updates.

He declined and said he would do it for $50,000 instead.

Sweeney has since launched @ElonJetNextDay, which only posts jet locations 24 hours after they are recorded.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Joey Klender: Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his time at TESLARATI, Joey has broken several big stories, including the first images of the Tesla Model S Plaid, the imminent release of the 4680 Model Y through EPA certification, and several expansions to the Lucid AMP-1 factory in Arizona, to name a few. His stories have been featured in several publications, including Yahoo! Finance, Fox News, CNET, and Seeking Alpha. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on Twitter @KlenderJoey.
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