The owner of the Twitter account that has spent the last two years tracking Billionaire Elon Musk’s flight destination says his account is under a “shadow ban”. The accusation comes despite Musk’s recent public assurances that he has not taken action against the account.
The account’s owner, Jack Sweeney, was told by an anonymous Twitter employee that the account was his popular account. ElonJet As of December 2nd, the tracker bot has been given “severely” limited visibility. Sweeney then went on to post a screenshot showing Twitter’s Vice President of Trust and Security Ella Irwin asking team members to “apply heavy VF.” [visibility filtering] to @elonjet immediately.” Sweeney released the information on a Twitter page he called “MyTwitter Files.”
Sweeney, a freshman at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, says he uses publicly available transponder data to track the location of Musk’s private jet. This information, which includes the aircraft’s altitude, latitude, longitude and heading, is then fed into one location. the algorithm I created. The @ElonJet bot then picks up that information and Tweets as Musk takes off and lands.
Although similar followers are available for other main figures Mark Zuckerberg, Drake and Jeff Bezos stand out for being able to draw the enduring wrath of their ElonJet target. In January, Sweeney said The New York Times Musk personally reached out to him via DM, asking him to delete the bot for $5,000. Sweeney countered by saying he would consider deactivating his account for $50,000 or even an internship at one of Musk’s companies. Musk said that he believed that social media accounts tracking his whereabouts were a “security problem”. reported cut off contact with the teenager.
G/O Media may receive a commission
40% Off
Samsung 65-Inch 4K OLED Smart TV
TV time
This 4K OLED smart TV comes with Alexa built-in, can run Xbox Game Pass, has an incredible picture, and even has Dolby Atmos & Object Tracking Sound too.
Months later, Musk officially announced he intended to acquire Twitter, leading many to wonder if the billionaire would move to ban Sweeney’s bot account. At the time, Sweeney said he was making backup plans to keep the bot active on other platforms, “just in case [Twitter] the account disappears.”
According to the mask contradictions in favor of free speech It was unclear whether Twitter’s past content moderation philosophy and repeated criticisms hand I would take action against the account once I officially own the platform. Musk addressed the issue in early November. saying would ban @ElonJet account on free speech principles.
“My commitment to free speech extends to not banning an account after my plane, even at the risk of personal safety,” Musk tweeted.
Responding to Sweeney’s tweet, he thanked Musk for his decision and said that most of his followers were actually supporters of Musk and his company.
Gizmodo reached out to Twitter for comment on Sweeney’s claims, but has not heard back. Twitter’s communications team reported endured major layoffs as part of the company’s layoff of 3,700 employees.
Sweeney’s claims, like Musk’s, continue to publicize what is saidTwitter Files” released internal documents outlining Twitter’s approach, among other things limiting the appearance of a certain account.
