Tesla top boss Elon Musk offered an enterprising teenager $5,000 to delete a Twitter bot that tracks his private jet's movements, but the teen declined, according to a report by Protocol.
Since June 2020, a bot operated by the Twitter handle @ElonJet has been tracking the billionaire's private plane using publicly available data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
@ElonJet provides regular updates on the jet's location, such as when it landed in a certain city after a flight.
Jack Sweeney manages 15 flight-tracking accounts with the help of a bot he created that posts when a person's flight departs or arrives at an airport.
Each one of them follows a well-known person, most of them in the tech sector, and includes Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Microsoft's Bill Gates.
Sweeney's account tracking Musk's flights is the most popular, with over 97,000 followers, and its popularity prompted Musk to send Sweeney a direct message.
Sweeney forwarded a copy of an exchange he had with Musk via Twitter direct message last fall to The Street.
"Can you take this down?" Musk asked. "It is a security hazard."
Sweeney, a freshman at the University of Central Florida, responded that he could remove the tracker but "it would cost you a Model 3."
Musk stated in the message that he dislikes the prospect of "being shot by a nutcase" and offered Sweeney $5,000 to remove the flight tracker, according to Protocol.
Sweeney turned down the offer and countered with $50,000 to help with school and car expenses.
Sweeney stated that the project is one to which he has devoted considerable time and was never intended to pose a security risk.
Sweeney's most recent exchange with Musk occurred a week ago, when the teen stated that he would close the account for free if Musk offered him an internship at his company.
According to Sweeney, Musk has not yet opened the message.
Sweeny explained to Musk how he gathered publicly available data about Musk's private jet in order to create an algorithm that automatically updates Musk's plane's status on social media.
Although the status of Musk's flights is public information, according to Protocol, only those with extensive knowledge of the industry would know where to find it.
Meanwhile, Musk is on course to become the world's first trillionaire as a result of his successful rocket company SpaceX and the value that Starlink satellites may provide.
