Meta banned accounts tracking Musk and Trump's private jets. The student behind them says he's lost faith in big social media platforms.
Jack Sweeney and Getty
- Meta has suspended Jack Sweeney's private jet-tracking accounts on Threads, citing safety concerns.
- It's the second time a major social media company has taken action against Sweeney's accounts.
- He told BI he plans to focus on his own website to have more control over his content.
Jack Sweeney is a college student best known for tracking the private jets of celebrities like Taylor Swift and Elon Musk.
Sweeney first made headlines back in 2022 when Musk suspended the jet-tracking accounts from his platform X. On Monday, Meta decided to do the same — and now, Sweeney says he's lost faith in big social media companies.
Meta's decision marks the second time a major tech company has suspended the social media accounts Sweeney uses to share the flight paths of public figures. His accounts tracking the jets belonging to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian, Donald Trump, and Musk were among those affected.
"First, I noticed ElonJet was just missing," Sweeney told Business Insider. "It was just completely blank. And from what I remember, ElonJet was just gone for a while, and then sometime later, more of them started just disappearing."
In a statement provided to BI, Meta cited a "risk to physical harm to individuals" and a recommendation from the company's independent Oversight Board for the decision to suspend the accounts.
Celebrities have also voiced concerns about how the jet-tracking accounts could impact their personal safety. Both Musk and Swift have threatened legal action, with Swift saying the accounts constituted "stalking and harassing behavior."
While Sweeney acknowledges the privacy and safety concerns around his accounts, he's frustrated by Meta's seemingly abrupt decision. He says he received no communication or warning about the bans and can't see a way to appeal them.
He suspects he was targeted by one of the public figures he's tracking, although he said he doesn't have evidence to support this claim.
"It would be nice to know who's behind it," Sweeney said. "You don't suddenly start caring about something you didn't enforce or choose to suspend for two years until someone threatens you or tells you to do this."
A Meta spokesman directed Fortune to a 2021 decision from its Oversight Board. Meta did not immediately respond to questions from BI about why it made the decision now and not sooner.
The data shared via Sweeney's accounts is publicly available. Sweeney started by sharing data from the ADS-B Exchange on Twitter, now X, using automated bots. He later expanded to Instagram and Threads and launched his own database for monitoring aircraft.
Sweeney still runs the jet-tracking accounts on X with a 24-hour delay to comply with the platform's new policies around sharing live locations. He says it's something he would have implemented for the Threads accounts if he had been given the option.
"Why not do the peaceful thing and allow it to be delayed? If I had the option, then I'd do that," he said. "But I really don't think it's the privacy thing; they're just trying to use that."
He told BI he doesn't see much point in trying to restart the Threads accounts.
"It's probably not worth it for big platforms," he said, adding that he still maintains the accounts on smaller platforms like Bluesky and Mastodon.
Sweeney is disillusioned by the whole concept of social media platforms run by Big Tech companies.
"I think a new technology is needed," he said, calling the idea of free speech and citizen journalism on social media platforms "almost like an illusion."
He says he's planning to focus on his own website from now on, so he has more control over content.