It’s time to keep an eye on your own business, as it’s unlikely you’ll know what others, like centibillionaire Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, billionairess Kim Kardashian, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos, and makeup mogul Kylie Jenner, are up to. This comes after Meta suspended jet-tracking accounts that monitored these celebrities and many others. It was undoubtedly a confusing day for Jack Sweeney, the Florida college student behind these accounts. The saga began in 2022 when Musk took over Twitter and banned similar jet-tracking accounts, including Sweeney’s account that tracked Musk’s own jet.
Though Sweeney moved his tracking efforts to Threads after the dispute, he was shocked when all accounts, except for political ones were suspended. He posted on Threads, “Kim K, Celeb Jets, Zuck, Kylie Jenner, Bill Gates, Bezos all suspended today. The political ones are the only ones left!!!” Shortly after, accounts tracking former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis were also suspended.
Jack Sweeney has faced the ire of world-famous jet-setters for years. He gained widespread attention after clashing with Tesla boss Elon Musk. He received free business advice and even an invitation to a Dallas Mavericks game from Mark Cuban in exchange for ceasing his tracking activities. Even superstar singer Taylor Swift had threatened to sue Sweeney for tracking her private jet and sharing its location on Twitter.
These high-profile jet owners will likely be relieved to see the message now displayed when clicking on the jet-tracking accounts: “The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.” A Meta spokesperson confirmed the action in a statement to TechCrunch, saying, “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.”
