Celebrity jet-tracking accounts have vanished from Threads and Instagram
Jack Sweeney says that 38 of his jet tracking accounts have been suspended. | Illustration: The Verge
Meta has suspended several Threads and Instagram accounts that track the private jets of celebrities such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Kim Kardashian, and former US president Donald Trump.
Jack Sweeney, who gained notoriety for his @ElonJet account on X and maintained many of the suspended accounts, said on Threads that the development is “reminiscent of all my accounts getting suspended on Twitter.” The shuttered accounts, which used publicly available data to show the flight paths of private jets, initially displayed a message on Monday that read, “The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.”
Meta provided no direct warning or explanation for the suspensions, according to Sweeney, who says the accounts appear “blacked out with no options to interact or receive information.” In a statement to TechCrunch, however, an unnamed Meta spokesperson said “Given the risk of physical harm to individuals, and in keeping with the independent Oversight Board’s recommendation, we’ve disabled these accounts for violating our privacy policy.”
An account tracking Taylor Swift’s private jet was also deactivated earlier after the singer threatened to take legal action against Sweeney in February unless he ceased “stalking and harassing behavior.”
Sweeney said that at least 38 of his accounts have been suspended across platforms like X and Threads, noting that “today feels like December 15th 2022” — the date on which the original @ElonJet Twitter account was permanently suspended.
Jack Sweeney says that 38 of his jet tracking accounts have been suspended. | Illustration: The Verge
Meta has suspended several Threads and Instagram accounts that track the private jets of celebrities such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Kim Kardashian, and former US president Donald Trump.
Jack Sweeney, who gained notoriety for his @ElonJet account on X and maintained many of the suspended accounts, said on Threads that the development is “reminiscent of all my accounts getting suspended on Twitter.” The shuttered accounts, which used publicly available data to show the flight paths of private jets, initially displayed a message on Monday that read, “The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.”
Meta provided no direct warning or explanation for the suspensions, according to Sweeney, who says the accounts appear “blacked out with no options to interact or receive information.” In a statement to TechCrunch, however, an unnamed Meta spokesperson said “Given the risk of physical harm to individuals, and in keeping with the independent Oversight Board’s recommendation, we’ve disabled these accounts for violating our privacy policy.”
An account tracking Taylor Swift’s private jet was also deactivated earlier after the singer threatened to take legal action against Sweeney in February unless he ceased “stalking and harassing behavior.”
Sweeney said that at least 38 of his accounts have been suspended across platforms like X and Threads, noting that “today feels like December 15th 2022” — the date on which the original @ElonJet Twitter account was permanently suspended.