Since taking over Twitter a month and change back, he’s proven an erratic leader, to say the least. He’s touted himself as a free speech absolutist while threatening employees who leaks intel to the press. He’s made brazen, possibly short-sighted moves that have lost companies money and locked people out of accounts. And he really doesn’t like it when people say mean things to him (or boo him en masse).
There’s been one account he’s been particularly obsessed with: a bot account called “elonjet,” which uses public information to show where the Tesla/Space X/Twitter honcho goes on his private aircraft. He initially said that by not suspending his account, he was showing what a good sport he was. On Wednesday, he suspended it. Then he un-suspended it. Then he suspended it again. On top of that, he threatened to sue its owner, a college student, whose personal Twitter account he also suspended.
It seems like Twitter has reinstated @ElonJet, which tracks Twitter chief Elon Musk's private jet, despite suspending it earlier. Musk said just an hour ago that the account violated Twitter's doxxing policy. @JxckSweeney, the owner of @ElonJet, remains suspended. pic.twitter.com/bKh1aVTL2I
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) December 14, 2022
“I gotta be careful. I mean, I don’t know what’s going on,” a baffled Jack Sweeney, a 20-year sophomore, told The Daily Beast. “I never meant for any intent of like, any harm or anything,” he added. “And I don’t think there’s that much of a risk of posting data that’s already there.”
The same day he reinstated then un-reinstated Sweeney’s account, Musk announced a new policy: “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.”
He later added, as though belatedly realizing there were some genuine exceptions to this rule, “Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok.”
Musk later explained his suspension of Sweeney’s two accounts, claiming that a “crazy stalker” had mounted the hood of a vehicle carrying his son, X Æ A-12, “thinking it was me.” He then pointed the blame towards the former owner of the defunct @elonjet account, writing, “Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family.”
As of Wednesday night, Sweeney says he’s heard nothing from Musk far as legal action is concerned. Nor has he heard from Musk since the time Musk offered him $5,000 to close his account. Sweeney asked for $50,000 instead. Musk did not pony up.
(Via The Daily Beast)