Musk Claims ‘Legal Action Is Being Taken’ Against 20-Year-Old Behind Jet-Tracking Account
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Elon Musk tweeted that “legal action is being taken” against 20-year-old Jack Sweeney, who ran the now-banned Twitter account that tracked Musk’s private jet. Presumably, Musk plans to sue him.
On Wednesday, Twitter nuked the @elonjet account, where Sweeney posted the movements of the Twitter CEO’s private plane from airport to airport using publicly-available flight-tracking data. The platform also banned Sweeney’s personal account.
The move runs counter to Musk’s pledge in November not to suspend @elonjet.
“My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk,” he tweeted.
Since taking over Twitter, the billionaire has pledged to make the platform safe for “free speech.”
On Wednesday, Twitter changed its terms of service to prohibit flight-tracking on the platform.
Hours after the suspension, Musk suggested Sweeney had engaged in “doxxing” and claimed in a follow-up tweet that a “stalker” followed a car with his child in it and climbed onto the hood.
He further stated that “legal action is being taken against Sweeney.” Musk also suggested Sweeney “supported harm” to his family.
Musk has made claims involving “stalkers” before. In 2019, his company alleged a Tesla critic “stalked” and struck an employee with his car. Tesla sued the man, but dropped the case after the company refused to release video evidence it claimed it had of the alleged attack:
Randeep Hothi was a fierce Tesla detractor on Twitter. In 2019, the company claimed he “stalked, harassed, and endangered” Tesla employees who were driving and filming a Model 3 on a Bay Area highway ahead of an “autonomy investor day.” Tesla also alleged he trespassed and surveilled the company’s Fremont factory, and that he had struck an employee with his car. The company claimed Hothi “fled the scene.” Tesla sued Hothi, claiming it had surveillance footage of the alleged incident. In order to proceed with its claim, an Alameda County judge ordered Tesla to produce the supposed footage. The carmaker declined and dropped the suit.
Hothi is currently seeking damages from the automaker.
It is unclear what Musk intends to sue Sweeney for. In an interview with the Daily Beast published on Wednesday night, Sweeney said he hasn’t received any legal notices from the billionaire.
