{"id":1265703,"date":"2022-12-15T19:33:01","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T19:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/12\/15\/elon-musk-taking-legal-action-over-twitter-account-that-tracks-his-private-jet-3\/"},"modified":"2022-12-15T19:33:01","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T19:33:01","slug":"elon-musk-taking-legal-action-over-twitter-account-that-tracks-his-private-jet-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/12\/15\/elon-musk-taking-legal-action-over-twitter-account-that-tracks-his-private-jet-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk taking legal action over Twitter account that tracks his private jet"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Musk is seen deplaning from his private jet in Los Angeles this past February.
\nDiggzy\/Jesal\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Elon Musk says he is taking legal action against the holder of a Twitter account that tracks his private jet, arguing it put his son at risk.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0@ElonJet account<\/a>, which has more than half a million followers, was suspended on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Its owner Jack Sweeney, 20, used publicly available flight-tracking information to tweet every time Mr Musk\u2019s jet took off and landed.<\/p>\n

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Mr Musk says legal action is now being taken against Mr Sweeney and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast night, car carrying [his son] lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving and climbed onto hood,\u201d he tweeted.<\/p>\n

He added that any account revealing people\u2019s real-time locations will be suspended \u201cas it is a physical safety violation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Sweeney denied the incident was related to his account when asked by the BBC.<\/p>\n

It comes after he\u00a0confirmed<\/a>\u00a0on his personal Twitter account on Wednesday that the profile had been suspended.<\/p>\n

That evening, Mr Sweeney\u2019s account appeared to have been reactivated. He tweeted: \u201cYes I am back!\u201d Minutes later it was listed again as suspended. His personal account, @JxckSweeney, has also been frozen.<\/p>\n

Mr Sweeney, a college student in the state of Florida, shared a screenshot with\u00a0CNN\u00a0of a message from Twitter saying the social media company had conducted a \u201ccareful review\u201d and had decided to permanently ban the account for violating Twitter\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n

The student 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.<\/p>\n

Many of those accounts \u2013 including one tracking aircraft associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and another monitoring celebrity jets \u2013 appeared to be suspended on Twitter as well on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Mr Musk had long taken issue with the @ElonJet account, and once reportedly offered Mr Sweeney $5,000 to delete it.<\/p>\n

Mr Sweeney told US media outlets that Mr Musk ultimately told him it did not feel right to pay to have the account shut down.<\/p>\n

And a month ago, Mr Musk pledged to keep it running even though it was a \u201cdirect personal safety risk\u201d.<\/p>\n

But Mr Musk tweeted on Wednesday evening: \u201cAny 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twitter\u2019s Help Center has\u00a0tweeted an updated media policy<\/a>\u00a0that begins: \u201cYou may not publish or post other people\u2019s private information without their express authorization and permission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since taking the helm at Twitter, Mr Musk has made a host of changes to its moderation practices.<\/p>\n

He has restored a handful of previously banned accounts, including former President Donald Trump\u2019s profile, which was banned following the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol.<\/p>\n

The Tesla CEO has also slashed the social media company\u2019s staff and has reportedly stopped paying rent for some of Twitter\u2019s offices, including the company\u2019s San Francisco headquarters, according to\u00a0the New York Times.<\/p>\n

Investors have questioned whether his recent takeover of Twitter has diverted his attention from his electric car business.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week,\u00a0he sold another 22 million shares, worth $3.58bn (\u00a32.9bn), in the company.<\/p>\n

It brings the total of Tesla stocks sold by Mr Musk over the past year to almost $40bn.<\/p>\n

MORE: <\/strong><\/p>\n

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