Topics: News, Technology, Elon Musk, Twitter
The bloke tracking Elon Musk’s private jets has revealed what it would take for him to stop publishing his whereabouts.
Jack Sweeney, 20, is the tech wiz that made headlines earlier this year for creating a Twitter account named ‘ElonJet’ that tracked the Tesla CEO’s every move with freely accessible data.
Musk offered Sweeney $5,000 (AUD $7,242 or £2,947) to stop tracking his private Gulfstream. But Sweeney declined his offer and demanded $50,000 (AUD $72,583 or £42,684) or an internship instead.
Sweeney revealed to the New York Post that he was shocked to receive a message from the billionaire via Twitter.
He said: “You don’t expect to get a private message from Elon Musk. The first thing was him asking me to take it down because it was a security risk. Then he started asking how I got the information. It was cool to be explaining something to Elon.
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“He offered to buy the account for $5,000.
“But I told him that if it’s not enough money to change my life, I don’t want to sell it.”
However, the young programmer, who is admittedly a fan of Musk, said he would take the account down on one condition.
"If he let me fly with him on his jet, record it and talk about it - and maybe not even pay me the $50,000 [previously asked for] — I would take it down. That is still up for discussion,” he said.
Sweeney admitted to the outlet that his feud with the SpaceX founder made his Twitter account, which boasts over 488,000 followers, blow up even more.
He said: “It feels cool. He is one of the richest people on Earth and I am annoying him.”
Earlier this year, the 20-year-old also created a Twitter account following other high-profile celebrities as they flew across America and the world.
His account became so popular that private jet business Stratos Jet Charters offered a place for Sweeney on their tech development team.
But Sweeney instead shifted his focus on tracking the jets of Russian oligarchs after the US imposed sanctions on Russia and called for the Kremlin’s luxury possessions to be seized amid the war.
He previously told CBS News: "It would be pretty cool to see one of their planes seized.”
Sweeney added: “People want these people tracked down and have their assets tracked down and to take their yachts and jets.”
