Jack Sweeney, a 19-year-old from Florida, rejected a $5,000 provide from Elon Musk to delete his Twitter account that tracks the billionaire’s non-public jet.
ElonJet has over 150,000 followers, and makes use of a bot that Sweeney developed to observe Musk’s flights. The feed then tweets out when and the place the aircraft takes off or lands and the period of every journey.
The school freshman has developed a few dozen different flight bot accounts that observe the travels of high-profile tech titans, together with Invoice Gates and Jeff Bezos.
The preliminary direct message from Musk got here November 30, Protocol first reported.
“Can you're taking this down?” Musk requested Sweeney. “It’s a safety threat.”
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO ultimately provided the teenager $5,000 to assist stop “loopy folks” from monitoring his flights.
“I don’t love the thought of being shot by a nutcase,” Musk mentioned.
Sweeney countered, asking for $50,000, saying he might use the cash for faculty and possibly a Tesla Mannequin 3.
The final message change was Jan. 19, when Musk mentioned it didn’t really feel proper “to pay to close this down.” CNN Enterprise has considered the messages.
“Choices apart from remuneration like an internship would make taking it down loads simpler,” Sweeney replied. Musk has not but responded.
Sweeney mentioned he’s been a fan of Musk’s SpaceX because the first Falcon Heavy launch in 2018. His father works for an airline, fueling his curiosity in aviation.
“5 thousand will not be sufficient for the way a lot I get out of it,” Sweeney mentioned. “It doesn’t change something, just like the enjoyment issue.”
Sweeney did provide Musk some technical recommendation, telling the billionaire a few blocking program he might use to counter flight monitoring packages.
“It appears like he took that recommendation,” Sweeney mentioned, saying it seems Musk is utilizing the blocking program.
So is Sweeney continues to be capable of observe Musk’s flights regardless of the blocking program? “I'm,” Sweeney mentioned. “It’s only a bit extra difficult.”
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