Musk threatens legal action against Twitter user who tracked his jet
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Elon Musk attends a Halloween party in October. Photo: Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Twitter has clipped the wings of the account that actively tracked Elon Musk's private jet, the account's owner said Wednesday before his personal account was also suspended.
Why it matters: The suspensions raise questions about Musk's commitment to free speech on Twitter, a value he has directly linked to his takeover of the platform.
- Musk said in early November that his "commitment to free speech" included the account following his plane.
The latest: The Twitter owner explained the suspension, saying that "real-time posting of someone else’s location violates doxxing policy, but delayed posting of locations are OK."
- Later Wednesday, referencing his toddler son, Musk tweeted: “Last night, car carrying lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving & climbed onto hood."
- It was not clear who the “stalker” was that Musk referenced in his tweet or whether that incident was related to the use of Musk’s location data.
- In the same tweet, Musk wrote that he was taking legal action against Sweeney and "organizations who supported harm to my family."
Catch up quick: Sweeney tweeted Wednesday that "it appears @ElonJet is suspended."
- The account, which has more than 500,000 followers, actively tracks Musk's location through public flight-tracking data.
- Sweeney said on Wednesday afternoon that he had created a Mastodon account that will track Musk's plane.
Later Wednesday, Sweeney's personal account, @JxckSweeney, appeared to be suspended.
- "All of my Twitter accounts have been banned. Even my personal make sure to stay connected with me," Sweeney wrote on Mastodon.
- He also posted a screenshot that showed he was suspended for violating "rules against platform manipulation and spam."
- Sweeney did not respond to Axios’ request for comment.
Context: In a thread on Dec. 10, Sweeney claimed that his account had been limited and restricted. Sweeney shared screenshots that he said were from Twitter employees that showed his account was heavily filtered.
- He said two days later that his account wasn't hidden or filtered anymore.
Flashback: Musk, who purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October, said last month he would allow the jet-tracking account to live "even though that is a direct personal safety risk."
Between the lines: Advertisers are closely watching how Musk's Twitter moderates content and handles free speech cases.
- Go deeper: A timeline of the Musk-Twitter deal so far
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story inaccurately said Jack Sweeney appeared to be the occupant of the car tweeted by Musk. Jack Sweeney owns the ElonJet account that has been threatened with legal action by Musk. Axios cannot definitely identify the occupant of the car.
