Twitter Suspends Musk Private Jet Tracking Account; Allows Tracking Of Zuckerberg, Oprah

While Twitter earlier today suspended the @ElonJet account set up by Jack Sweeney tracking owner Elon Musk’s private jet flights, similar accounts set up by the college student continue.

(Update: As of December 14 at 2:39 PM @CelebJets and @ZuccJet have now been suspended)

@CelebJets earlier today tweeted, “Jay-Z’s Jet (N44440) Going to Camarillo, California, US (KCMA, Camarillo International Airport) arriving in ~4h59m.”

Both the industry’s trade group, the National Business Aviation Association and executives with private jet management companies have expressed security concerns about broadcasting where high-profile executives and celebrities are traveling, particularly providing notice of where they are headed and when they will be arriving.

A reply to @ZuccJet, which tracks Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, featured a meme of Alfred Hitchcock exercising with a guillotine.

That account last reported the social network founder was headed to Hawaii on December 11.

Yesterday, Celebrity Jets tweeted, “Oprah Winfrey’s Jet Took off from Mesa, Arizona, US. Going to Santa Barbara, California, US (SBA, Santa Barbara Municipal Airport) arriving in ~1h04m.”

The account also tracks Tom Cruise, Floyd Mayweather, Kylie Jenner and others.

On December 12, it tweeted, “Tom Cruise’s Challanger 300 Going to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US (FXE, Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport) arriving in ~2h27m.”

When Sweeney first made the news after he turned down an offer from Musk to shut down @ElonJet for $5,000, upping the ante and demanding a free Tesla car, an NBAA spokesperson said, “The real-time tracking and online broadcasting of business aviation flights—by anyone, anywhere in the world, with any motive—raises many serious concerns, including with regard to passenger security, safety and corporate espionage. These concerns have been repeatedly reflected in bipartisan congressional legislation requiring the FAA to provide an opt-out from real-time flight tracking,”

Sweeney and others circumvent the ability of jet owners to block tracking of their airplanes by eschewing FAA feeds and using publicly available data, at least in part through websites that allow users to share data.

The NBAA spokesperson noted, “This latest example of flight-stalking underscores the need to ensure that people aren’t required to surrender their personal security and safety just because they get on an airplane.”

Business aviation officials say they are concerned not only about the safety of the high-profile flyers but also other passengers traveling through FBOs, workers at the airports the jets are flying into, and other flight crews.

It’s not clear why Musk’s Twitter suspended @ElonJet. In recent days Sweeney had accused the company of shadow-banning the account tracking Musk’s jet.

He tweeted on December 10, “Internal messages obtained by a anonymous Twitter employee explained to me that on December 2 2022 your account @elonjet was visibility limited/restricted to a severe degree internally,” However, on December 12 he tweeted that everything was fine.

On November 6, after taking over Twitter, Musk tweeted, “My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk.”

So far, it doesn’t seem suspending @ElonJet is related to Musk’s “personal safety risk” concerns since Twitter, at least for now, is allowing Sweeney to broadcast data about other high-profile UHNWs and where they are jetting.