A student is hiding behind a bot on Twitter that provides regular updates on the location of Elon Musk’s jet, and it has allegedly demanded 45,000 euros to shut it down.
Early last week, 19-year-old Jack Sweeney gained some internet notoriety when our colleagues at Protocol posted about one of his Twitter bots. This student maintains the ElonJet account, a tracker that reports the take-offs and landings of Elon Musk’s private jet on Twitter.
Concerned for his safety and respect for his privacy, Elon Musk contacted the young man to express his concerns. ” I don’t like the idea of getting shot by a weirdo said Musk. Billionaire offered Sweeney $5,000 to stop tracking his private jetbut the student refused and made a counter-proposal.
Also to be read – Tesla: Elon Musk denies working on a $25,000 car
The student demands 45,000 euros to end the tracking
After turning down Musk’s offer, student demanded $50,000 to disable his Twitter bot, saying the money would cover his tuition and help him buy a Tesla car. During the exchange, the student also allegedly asked the billionaire if it was possible to get an internship in one of his companies. ” Options other than compensation, such as an internship, would make it much easier to close “.
Sweeney said he has been a fan of SpaceX, the company specializing in astronautics and spaceflight, since the first launch of Falcon Heavy in 2018. His father works for an airline, fueling his interest in aviation. We had also recently learned that a Falcon 9 rocket was soon to crash on the Moon. For now, we don’t know if Elon Musk will accept one of the young man’s two proposals, but if his account were to close, another robot might quickly take his place.
Today, the @ElonJet account has just over 200,000 Twitter followers. To operate, the robot collects information from the ADS-B database, ” the world’s largest source of open, unfiltered flight data for enthusiasts “.
