Twitter has restored an account that tracked the movements of Elon Musk’s private jet but put in place new rules to regulate it.
The @ElonJet account, run by software developer Jack Sweeney, had hundreds of thousands of followers before it was taken down on Wednesday morning.
But by the afternoon, Twitter, and by extension, Mr Musk had backtracked after he was mocked for his apparent stance to free speech that directly impacted him.
Mr Musk later explained that his son X had been followed in a car in Los Angeles by a “crazy stalker” who thought the billionaire was in it and that it was a safety issue.
“Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info. Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok,” he wrote.
“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. Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family.”
The new restrictions prevent users from posting information about other people’s whereabouts for 24 hours, even when the jet tracking data is publically available.
“We’ve updated our Private Information policy to prohibit sharing someone else’s live location in most cases. Here’s what changed and why,” Twitter Safety tweeted.
“When someone shares an individual’s live location on Twitter, there is an increased risk of physical harm. Moving forward, we’ll remove Tweets that share this information, and accounts dedicated to sharing someone else’s live location will be suspended.
“You can still share your own live location on Twitter. Tweets that share someone else’s historical (not same-day) location information are also not prohibited by this policy.
“Content that shares location information related to a public engagement or event, such as a concert or political event, is also permitted.”
Mr Musk had previously tried to purchase the account for $50,000, but Mr Sweeney refused his offer, and claimed earlier this week that his account had been “shadowbanned.”
The @ElonJet account was reactivated and immediately tweeted Elon Musk about what his new rules actually meant.
“Wait Hello? How long does delay mean,” tweeted the account, before adding “Seems be a 24 hour delay.”
And Mr Sweeney then added: “Can I get my other accounts back, that being following the new rules?”
Mr Sweeney said he would launch the account on the rival platform Mastodon and was also publicly invited to set up on Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform.
