Twitter suspends @ElonJet account tracking Elon Musk’s jet

A Twitter account that tracked Elon Musk’s private jet has been suspended for violating Twitter rules.

The @ElonJet account had more than half a million followers.

Its owner Jack Sweeney, 20, used flight-tracking information to tweet every time Mr Musk’s jet took off and landed.

Mr Sweeney confirmed on his personal Twitter account on Wednesday that the profile had been suspended.

That evening, Mr Sweeney’s account appeared to have been reactivated. He tweeted: “Yes I am back!” Minutes later it was listed again as suspended.

His personal account – @JxckSweeney, which was also suspended for breaking Twitter rules – remained frozen.

It comes a month after Mr Musk – who bought Twitter for $44bn (£35.3bn) this year – pledged to keep the account running even though it was a “direct personal safety risk”.

Mr Musk previously tweeted that he chose to do so because of his “commitment to free speech”.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Sweeney, a college student in the state of Florida, shared a screenshot with CNN of a message from Twitter saying the social media company had conducted a “careful review” and had decided to permanently ban the account for violating Twitter’s rules.

Mr Musk had long taken issue with the account, branding it a “direct personal safety risk”, and once reportedly offered Mr Sweeney $5,000 to delete it.

Mr Sweeney told US media outlets that Mr Musk – also the boss of Tesla – ultimately told him it did not feel “right” to pay to have the account shut down.

The 20-year-old is in charge of dozens of other accounts that track the private flights of wealthy Americans, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg.

Many of those accounts – including one tracking aircraft associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and another monitoring celebrity jets – appeared to be suspended on Twitter as well on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Musk tweeted on Wednesday evening: “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.”

Twitter’s Help Center has tweeted an updated media policy that begins: “You may not publish or post other people’s private information without their express authorization and permission.”

Mr Sweeney told the New York Post earlier in the day: “He’s [Musk] going to be called a full-on hypocrite.”

Since taking the helm at Twitter, Mr Musk has made a host of changes to its moderation practices.

He has restored a handful of previously banned accounts, including former President Donald Trump’s profile, which was banned following the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol.

The Tesla CEO has also slashed the social media company’s staff and has reportedly stopped paying rent for some of Twitter’s offices, including the company’s San Francisco headquarters, according to the New York Times.