Rumours going around online are saying that multibillionaire Elon Musk became the major shareholder of Twitter simply so he could get a teenager to stop tracking him.
The account, named Elon Musk’s Jet (@ElonJet) not only follows the movement’s of the Tesla founder’s personal aircraft, but also posts pictures of them online. It is owned by 19-year-old US resident Jack Sweeney, who he himself wondered about the real motives behind Musk’s recent involvement with the social media platform: “Did Elon start buying Twitter stock because of me (@JxckSweeney) telling him no?”
Sweeney was referring to when the richest man in the world had requested he stop tracking the movements of his jet, a request which was turned down. “This account has every right to post jet whereabouts, ADS-B data is public,” Sweeney wrote in a post. That prompted Musk to attempt to bribe him with $5,000 to get him to shut down the account, but that offer too was rejected, with the teen asking for ten times as much.
This account has every right to post jet whereabouts, ADS-B data is public, every aircraft in the world is required to have a transponder, Even AF1 (@AirForceTrack) Twitter policy states data found on other sites is allowed to be shared here as well. pic.twitter.com/Wol8O1DRiq
— Elon Musk’s Jet (@ElonJet) January 18, 2022
Elon Musk isn’t the only person that the tech-savvy teenager keeps on his radar (literally.) He has also created similar accounts which track the movements of aircrafts belonging to other high profile individuals. Most notable among them would be those of the Russian oligarchs, which have recently gained a lot of attention.
Many other online users also pondered if Musk invested in Twitter just so he could permanently ban Sweeney’s account. One user said: “I like to think Elon Musk bought 9.2% of Twitter to stop
@ElonJet from tracking his plane”, while another added: “Did @elonmusk just buy 10% of twitter so that teenager with the bot that tracks Elon’s private plane could be deplatformed?”
Did @elonmusk just buy 10% of twitter so that teenager with the bot that tracks Elon’s private plane could be deplatformed?
— Andrew (@DukeBonds) April 5, 2022
I like to think Elon Musk bought 9.2% of Twitter to stop @ElonJet from tracking his plane
— john (@0bungler) April 4, 2022
Musk recently became Twitter’s major shareholder, buying over 73 million shares in the company. That means he owns 9 percent of it, more than any other of its investors.
