Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Fortune
Fortune
Chris Morris

Elon Musk threatens to sue founder of app that tracks his jet

(Credit: Theo Wargo—Getty Images)

Elon Musk has banned the ElonJet tracker and its founder from Twitter. Now he says he’s also taking legal action against Jack Sweeney, creator of the app and a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Central Florida, for allegedly enabling harm to his family.

Musk announced his intentions Wednesday evening as part of another announcement that the platform had permanently suspended the @ElonJet account, which tracked the flights of Musk’s private jet, as well as Sweeney’s personal account.

According to Musk, a car carrying his two-year-old son X was followed by a “crazy stalker (thinking it was me)” on Dec. 13, who blocked and climbed on the hood of one of the vehicles.

“Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family,” he said.

Musk did not detail how the flight tracking app tied in with the alleged incident involving his son. Per the Musk jet tracker that is still live on Facebook and Instagram, Musk did not fly on Dec. 13, though he did fly on the 12th.

Sweeney began tracking the billionaire’s jet, he says, because he was a fan. And the data is gathered from ADS-B exchange, a larger hobbyist site that assembles publicly available data from the transponders of different aircraft. Since the data is publicly available, it’s uncertain what legal avenue Musk will be able to pursue.

Musk has never been a fan of Sweeney's jet tracker. In January, he messaged Sweeney asking  him to take the tracker down and offering $5,000 to delete the account, saying he didn’t want “crazy people” tracking his flights. Sweeney rejected the offer, and suggested Musk could pay him $50,000 instead or offer him an internship in return for taking down the app. Musk declined.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.