‘If I hand over now, it is type of like letting the large man win’

Legal Update
Jack Sweeney and Elon Musk

Jack Sweeney and Elon MuskJack Sweeney and Getty

  • Jack Sweeney, the teenager who tracked Elon Musk’s non-public jet, says he’ll preserve monitoring the airplane.

  • Sweeney wrote in a Newsweek op-ed that he plans to trace the jet on “totally different platforms.”

  • “If I hand over now, it is type of like letting the large man win,” Sweeney wrote.

Jack Sweeney, the faculty pupil recognized for “Elonjet,” a non-public plane-tracking Twitter account, says he does not plan to cease monitoring Musk’s jet.

Sweeney wrote in a Newsweek op-ed revealed on Thursday that he wished to maintain monitoring the airplane on totally different social media platforms.

“If I hand over now, it is type of like letting the large man win,” Sweeney wrote.

Sweeney added in his op-ed that he doesn’t care that “Elonjet” was suspended from Musk’s Twitter, saying that he already has a presence on Mastodon, Fb, Reality Social, Instagram, and Telegram.

“I haven’t got to comply with Musk’s guidelines on different platforms, and I haven’t got to fret about him watching my account,” Sweeney wrote.

Twitter on Wednesday updated its “Private Information policy,” which now prohibits “sharing another person’s stay location generally.” However earlier than that announcement, over 30 of Sweeney’s accounts have been banned on Wednesday underneath Musk’s up to date privateness coverage. This suspension contains accounts that tracked different non-public planes, like these owned by Jeff Bezos and former President Donald Trump.

“Twitter was my core platform, as I had 500,000 followers, however my accounts are gaining pace on different platforms,” ​​he added.

Sweeney mentioned in his op-ed that he’s “nonetheless a fan of Musk’s ventures,” regardless of being banned from Twitter.

Musk on Wednesday additionally threatened authorized motion towards Sweeney, alleging that the publication of real-time location data led to a “loopy stalker” approaching a automobile that was carrying his son, X, in Los Angeles.

That is a U-turn on his earlier stance — Musk had tweeted in Nov that his “dedication to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my airplane, though that may be a direct private security danger.”

Sweeney referenced Musk’s latest tweets within the op-ed, saying “I do not assume my Elonjet account may have led a ‘loopy stalker’ to his automobile.”

“I am monitoring his airplane, not the automobile, so I do not see the way it may very well be related,” he added.

Relating to the specter of authorized motion from Musk, Sweeney says he feels “barely” intimidated, however gathers that there “does not appear to be any authorized floor for a lawsuit.”

“I am simply posting data that is already on the market,” Sweeney wrote.

Musk didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s request for remark.

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