The Fruits of Impudence

Jack Sweeney, the college student who tracked and tweeted the locations of private jets belonging to public figures the likes of Donald Trump, Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian, and Elon Musk, has allegedly been banned by Twitter.

Musk, the multi-billionaire advocate of free speech and Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter founder, asserted in a 14 December 2022 tweet that any account doxing real-time location information of anyone will be suspended, "as it is a physical safety violation."

The term doxing denotes the searching for and publishing of private or identifying information about a particular individual on the internet, typically with malicious intent.

Sweeney maintained more than thirty separate Twitter accounts via which he disclosed the locations of various private aircraft. Subject accounts were suspended prior to the suspension of his personal account.

"I really didn't think he'd suspend my personal account," Sweeney defiantly asserted. "I didn't think he'd do anything because of all the media attention he'd get."

Indifferent to the dangers faced by public figures in a highly-polarized world, Sweeney declared he’s more motivated than ever to go on sharing the whereabouts of Musk's and others’ jets on competing social media platforms such as Instagram, Discord, and Mastodon.

"I mean, f*ck this guy," Sweeney said of Musk. "This is ridiculous. My personal account doesn't even track the planes. I'm going full-blast."

Several hours after Sweeney's personal account was banned, his Musk-tracking account, @ElonJet was reactivated. Sweeney’s personal account and other jet-tracking accounts, however, appeared to remain suspended.

Musk had previously expressed justifiable concern that Sweeney’s jet-tracking account could affect his personal safety, but vowed in November that he wouldn't remove the account. "My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk," Musk tweeted days after he acquired Twitter.

Upon learning of Musk’s intention to purchase Twitter, Sweeney posited his @ElonJet account was not long for the world. The 20-year-old college student refused a $5,000 offer from Musk to voluntarily take down the account, which the Pretoria-born entrepreneur called a "security risk" before circumspectly stating he didn’t wish to be "shot by a nutcase."

Notwithstanding his steadfast commitment to free speech, Musk has promised legal action against Sweeney, insinuating a serious allegation in a tweet reading: “Last night, car carrying lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving & climbed onto hood.”

The threat Musk perceived was to his child, who goes by the unusual moniker X Æ A-Xii, but to whom Musk refers as lil X.

“Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family,” Musk concluded.

Sweeney denied the alleged incident had anything to do with his account.

FMI: www.tesla.com/elon-musk