The creator of a Twitter account that was banned on the platform for tracking the movements of Elon Musk’s private jet has taken his jet tracking to Twitter-rival Threads.
Jack Sweeney, a student at the University of Central Florida, created a number of automated Twitter accounts to track the private jets belonging to prominent individuals like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and former President Donald Trump by using publicly available air traffic data. His “Elon Musk’s Jet” Twitter account was suspended in December 2022 following Musk’s takeover of the social media platform.
“ElonJet has arrived to Threads!” proclaimed Sweeney’s first post on Threads shortly after the platform launched. The new account, which has the handle @elonmusksjet, had more than 65,000 followers as of midday Sunday and noted a flight from Austin to Brownsville, Texas.
TWITTER BANS, REINSTATES, THEN SUSPENDS ACCOUNT THAT TRACKED ELON MUSK’S PRIVATE PLANE
Sweeney’s second post asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, “@zuck will I be allowed to stay” – a question that remains open following the new platform’s launch.
Meta did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment on whether flight tracking accounts like Sweeney’s will be allowed to remain on the platform.
WILL META’S THREADS BECOME GAME CHANGER FOR INVESTORS?
Sweeney’s Twitter-based tracking account was suspended in December 2022 after Musk’s acquisition of the social media platform.
Musk said the account violated Twitter’s physical safety policies by “doxxing real-time location info” and later said that his son was followed by a “crazy stalker” who blocked a car that carried his son from moving and climbed onto the hood.
Zuckerberg said that Threads by Instagram, the new social media platform launched by Meta, had more than 30 million users within 24 hours following its launch. The platform has a similar format to Twitter and was launched as a direct competitor to the platform.
ZUCKERBERG SAYS THREADS, INSTAGRAM’S NEW TWITTER-LIKE APP, HAS 30 MILLION USERS; ELON MUSK RESPONDS
Connor Hayes, Instagram’s vice president of products who helped lead the launch, told the Wall Street Journal, “This is a space Twitter has been in and led for a while, but our perspective here is that there is an opportunity and people are looking for more choices.”
Musk responded to the launch of Threads by tweeting, “It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram.”
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Sweeney and Twitter did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ requests for comment.
FOX Business’ Bradford Betz, Lawrence Richard and Reuters contributed to this report.