Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, offered $5,000 to a 19-year-old to shut down a Twitter account that records his private aircraft, according to the teenager.
Jack Sweeney manages 15 flight-tracking accounts with a bot he designed that posts when a celebrity’s aircraft departs or arrives at an airport.
Sweeney’s account following Musk’s flights has the most followers, with over 97,000, and its popularity prompted Musk to send Sweeney a direct message.
“I don’t like the thought of being shot by a nutcase,” Musk wrote in the message, offering Sweeney $5,000 to remove it, according to Protocol.
“Would it be possible to increase that to $50,000?” It would be a huge help in college and might even allow me to buy a car.
Musk and Sweeney last communicated a week ago, when Sweeney stated he would remove the account for free provided Musk offered him an internship. Musk, according to the adolescent, has not yet opened the letter.
Sweeny described to Musk how he was able to locate publicly available data about Musk’s private jet and use it to construct an algorithm that automatically tweets the status of Musk’s plane. Although the status of Musk’s flights is public knowledge, only people with extensive industry experience would know where to look for it, according to Protocol.
