Twitter bans plane tracker @Elonjet for “safety reasons”

In a controversial decision, Twitter, at the behest of owner Elon Musk, has banned Twitter user @Elonjet. Musk stated that his personal safety was at risk as a result of these tweets.

Account that automatically tracks flight movements

@elonjet is a Twitter account linked to a program that tracks the flight movements of Elon Musk’s private jet. It was set up by teenage student Ed Sweeney. Musk has tried to end this account before, including by offering Sweeney money. This flight information is public.

The website of research collective Bellingcat contains a manual on how to find out the current location of aircraft yourself. So the question is whether what Sweeney did is punishable. In the meantime, Sweeney has changed his system to such an extent that any attempt by Musk to hide his plane under a new responder code is nullified. This may be punishable.

An unpleasant experience, an unknown man in a car chasing a car in which Musk’s youngest son was being transported, was the immediate cause. It seems that Musk tried to solve this problem in this less thoughtful way.

opponents of this blockade

This affair took a turn for the worse as some journalists who had posted links to @Elonjet were also banned for a week. Most of the media reacted with outrage to this. The European Union and the United Nations also took the opportunity to express threatening language towards Twitter and Musk. After a vote among Twitter users, Musk reversed this ban after just one day.

The European Union has been on the warpath for some time and wants to have a better grip on social media. So it seems that the interesting times on Twitter will continue for a while.

Meanwhile, fellow shareholders of Musk’s car company, Tesla, worry that Musk is focusing too much of his attention on Twitter and letting Tesla languish a bit. They also fear reputational damage due to the controversial actions of the flamboyant billionaire.