Elon Musk offered a Florida teen $7,000 to delete a Twitter account tracking his jet. It wasn't enough

Jack Sweeney, a 19-year from Florida, rejected a $7000 supply from Elon Musk to delete his Twitter account that tracks the billionaire's personal jet.

The account, ElonJet, has greater than 150,000 followers, and makes use of a bot that Mr Sweeney developed to watch Musk's flights. The feed then tweets out when and the place the airplane takes off or lands and the period of every journey.

The school freshman has developed a few dozen different flight bot accounts that observe the travels of high-profile tech titans, together with Invoice Gates and Jeff Bezos.

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Elon Musk supplied a Florida teen US$5,000 (A$7000) to delete the Twitter account monitoring his jet. (@ElonJet)

The preliminary direct message from Mr Musk got here November 30, Protocol first reported.

"Can you are taking this down?" Mr Musk requested Sweeney. "It is a safety danger."

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO finally supplied the teenager $7000 to assist forestall "loopy individuals" from monitoring his flights. Mr Sweeney countered asking for $71,000, saying he may use the cash for faculty and perhaps a Tesla (TSLA) Mannequin 3.

"I do not love the thought of being shot by a nutcase," Mr Musk mentioned.

The final message alternate was Wednesday, January 19, when Musk mentioned it did not really feel proper "to pay to close this down." CNN Enterprise has considered the messages.

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"Choices aside from remuneration, like an internship, would make taking it down lots simpler," Mr Sweeney replied. Musk has not but responded.

CNN has reached out to SpaceX for remark.

Mr Sweeney mentioned he is been a fan of SpaceX for the reason that first Falcon Heavy launch in 2018. His father works for an airline, fuelling his curiosity in aviation.

Mr Musk mentioned it did not really feel proper "to pay to close this down." (AP)

"$US5000 shouldn't be sufficient for a way a lot I get out of it," Mr Sweeney mentioned. "It does not substitute something, just like the enjoyment issue."

Mr Sweeney did supply Mr Musk some technical recommendation, telling the billionaire a few blocking program he may use to counter flight monitoring packages.

"It seems like he took that recommendation," Mr Sweeney mentioned, saying it seems Mr Musk is at present utilizing the blocking program.

So is Sweeney continues to be capable of observe Musk's flights regardless of the blocking program? "I'm," Mr Sweeney mentioned. "It is only a bit extra sophisticated."