Tesla boss Elon Musk offers teenager $US5000 to stop sharing his flight data on social media

The Tesla founder offered a 19-year-old app developer $US5000 to take down a real-time, flight-tracking Twitter account that revealed Elon Musk’s private jet movements.

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Tesla founder Elon Musk offered to pay $US5000 ($AU7110) to a 19-year-old college student in a bid to stop his flight details being tracked in real time on the social media platform Twitter.

According to US-based tech news outlet, protocol.com, Musk became aware of the @ElonJet Twitter account late in 2021.

The Twitter handle was created by 19-year-old Jack Sweeney, and the posts were designed to track the movements of Elon Musk’s private jet around the world.

According to Portico, Elon Musk contacted Sweeney in a private exchange via Twitter and asked the college student to “take it down”, citing a “security risk”.

With around 112,000 followers, the @ElonJet bot account tracks and publishes the movements of Musk’s private jet using data publicly available from the US Federal Aviation Authority.

However, Sweeney’s Twitter account has seemingly given Musk a fright, who in a private message to Sweeney wrote: “I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase”.

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In an exchange of messages, Sweeney revealed he didn’t make money off his account – ‘no more than $US20′ ($AU28) according to Protocol – prompting Elon Musk to make the $US5000 ($AU7110) offer in return for Sweeney deleting the account.

Sweeney responded with an audacious counter-offer, reports Protocol.

“Any chance to up that to $50k? It would be great support in college and would possibly allow me to get a car, maybe even a Model 3.”

Musk reportedly said he’d think about it but hasn’t contacted Sweeney since. The @ElonJet account is still active today, with more than 112,000 followers.

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Musk isn’t the only tech giant Sweeney tracks. In all, he has 15 accounts tracking the private jet movements of high-profile tech luminaries such as Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.

Sweeney’s tracking apps are entirely legal, using transponder data that shows any given plane’s location in the air in real time. Sweeney, a self-confessed airplane nerd, has been tracking aircraft since childhood.

It seems Musk isn’t impressed, however, telling Sweeny: “Air traffic control is so primitive,” in a direct message.

Sweeney is yet to hear back from Musk about his $US50,000 ($AU71,105) counter-offer.

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