Teen who was banned from Twitter for tracking Elon Musk’s private jet in real time returns

The college student behind the infamous @ElonJet Twitter account, the profile that followed Elon Musk‘s private jet in real time, is back albeit with one noticeable difference. 

The account, now called @ElonJetNextDay, will post the location of the SpaceX founder’s plane with a 24 hour delay, the creator of the account Jack Sweeney said in an interview with Insider.

In a separate interview with the New York Post, Sweeney said that the new account remains ‘search banned’ and can only be found if a user adjusts their search settings. 

The previous version of the account was automated, Sweeney told Insider that the new version will be manually updated until he can figure a way to automate it with the new restriction. 

At the time the account was deleted, @ElonJet had 500,000 followers. Musk had earlier promised not to ban the account. 

Musk stepping off his private jet in Los Angeles in February 2022

Musk changed Twitter’s rules to make real-time location reporting against the site’s rules. Users are allowed to share ‘publicly available location information after a reasonable time has elapsed, so that the individual is no longer at risk for physical harm.’

Despite the new account, Sweeney says that his personal account is still banned by Musk. It remains to be seen if @ElonJetNextDay will avoid a banning. 

The University of Florida sophomore said that he originally set up the account in 2020 because he was a fan of Musk’s. Previously, the South African had offered him $5,000 to remove the page. Sweeney countered, asking for $50,000. 

Musk also threatened legal action. In his interview with the Post, Sweeney said that he felt as though the Tesla founder was ‘bluffing.’

According to the new page, the most recent flight taken by Musk’s jet saw it fly between Oakland and Austin, Texas, where Tesla is headquartered. 

The original ElonJet account remains active on Mastadon, where it has 67,000 followers, Instagram, Facebook and TruthSocial. 

Sweeney, who is studying information technology, had created more than 15 Twitter bots tracking the private planes of tech billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos – but the account tracking Musk’s jet was by far the most popular.

Jack Sweeney, the University of Florida sophomore said that he originally set up the account in 2020 because he was a fan of Musk’s. Previously, the South African had offered him $5,000 to remove the page. Sweeney countered, asking for $50,000

According to the new page, the most recent flight taken by Musk’s jet saw it fly between Oakland and Austin, Texas, where Tesla is headquartered

The original ElonJet account remains active on Mastadon, where it has 67,000 followers, Instagram, Facebook and TruthSocial

The reappearance of the account comes as Musk is being criticized for his latest Twitter feature, offering a public count of how many views a tweet has received.

Former Twitter engineer Paul Stamatiou, tweeted about the feature saying: ‘IIRC we tested it and most people didn’t get any views and we had to have some thresholds before showing it as “0 views” was depressing.’

He added: ‘We also wanted to be accurate and not count if someone quickly scrolls past your tweet in their TL.’ 

Although the information Sweeney relies on is all public, his program requires sophisticated knowledge to match transponder frequencies with separately available anonymous flight plans

Although the information Sweeney relies on is all public, his program requires sophisticated knowledge to match transponder frequencies with separately available anonymous flight plans.

It is unclear what legal action Musk could take against Sweeney for an account that automatically posted public flight information.

Musk had said in a tweet in November that his commitment to free speech ‘extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk’. Musk previously called himself a ‘free speech absolutist’. 

Earlier this month, Musk blamed the ElonJet account of facilitating a stalker who followed a car in Los Angeles that was transporting his son, X Æ A-12.

It is unclear what legal action Musk could take against Sweeney for an account that automatically posted public flight information

On December 15, Musk tweeted: ‘Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok.’ 

This week, the stalker who was following Musk’s child was identified as an Uber Eats worker who insists the billionaire is stalking him with 24-hour surveillance, a new report has revealed.

Brandon Collado is said to be the man behind the stalking, according to the Washington Post, after he was identified when Musk posted his balaclava-clad face to his 122 million followers Tuesday.

In the short video, the suspect confirmed to be Collado can be seen wearing a black hood driving a white Hyundai – and is confronted by a member of Elon Musk’s security team after jumping on the hood of a car Musk’s son X had been traveling in.

Collado has in turn made some unhinged comments – including that X’s mother Grimes was sending him ‘coded’ Instagram messages and that the billionaire CEO was in fact stalking him. 

Musk, who was not present for the encounter, posted the footage to Twitter to ask if anyone recognized the man, before blaming the incident on a since-banned account that tracked his jet to an LA airport 23 hours prior to the unwanted interaction.

The incident transpired 26 miles from the airport, at a gas station in Pasadena.

In an interview with the Post, Collado confirmed that he has an interest in Musk’s family and was the masked man in the footage – while making claims that he was being sent coded messages from the mother of Musk’s children, the pop star Grimes, through the latter’s Instagram posts.

Brandon Collado is said to be the man behind the stalking, according to the Washington Post, after he was identified when Musk posted his balaclava-clad face to his 122 million followers Tuesday

Grimes, whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher, lives in a house near the gas station where the altercation transpired.

Still, police in both LA and South Pasadena – the location of the incident – said there was ‘no evidence’ that Collado’s apparent tailing of the car linked to Musk was related to the jet-tracking account @elonjet.

Speaking to Post reporters Drew Harwell and Taylor Lorenz – who both were temporarily booted off Twitter this week, reportedly after seeking comment for Musk on the incident – Collado claimed to be an Uber Eats Driver, and acknowledged he has an interest in both Musk, 51, and Boucher.

Boucher, 34, split with the billionaire just a year after the birth of two-year-old X in 2021, but the pair have reportedly remained on good terms and co-parent their two kids.