Tech news site Protocol reported on Wednesday that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has messaged the owner of a Twitter account that tracks his private jet, offering $5,000 if he takes the account offline.
The ‘Elon Musk's Jet’ account shows the movements of the businessman’s private plane, using bots that monitor publicly available air traffic data.
According to Protocol, the owner of the account, 19-year-old Jack Sweeney, received a message in fall last year from Musk, saying “Can you take this down? It is a security risk.”
Sweeney reportedly replied that he could remove it, but said it would cost Musk “a Model 3 only joking unless?” Musk then replied: “I don't love the idea of being shot by a nutcase” and offered Sweeney $5,000.
“Any chance to up that to $50k? It would be great support in college and would possibly allow me to get a car maybe even a Model 3,” Sweeney responded, as quoted by Protocol. The billionaire said he would think about it but has not been back in touch.
When Sweeney told Musk where he was aggregating the data from, Musk responded: “Air traffic control is so primitive.”
Earlier this month, Musk tweeted that social media accounts tracking his movements were “becoming a security issue.”
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