Elon Musk Offers Teenager $5,000 To Stop Tracking His Plane

Elon Musk has found himself in a bit of a pickle amid fears his plane is being tracked by a 19-year-old. 

Twitter account, @ElonJet, has supposedly been using advanced technology to track Elon Musk’s private jet for months and has amassed quite the following, currently sitting at over 88,000 followers. 

The account appears to broadcast the movements of Musk’s jet through the clever use of bots that collate air traffic data which is widely available to the public. 

Mastermind behind the operation, teenager Jack Sweeney, has allegedly set up 15 other Twitter accounts using the same method in order to broadcast when a chosen plane has taken off or landed. 

He also runs the account @CelebJets, which tracks the private jet movements of numerous celebrities including the likes of Kylie Jenner, Tom Cruise, and Oprah Winfrey.

However, as per Protocol’s report, Musk actually contacted Sweeney to ask him to take the ‘Elon Musk’s Jet’ offline. 

In order to tempt the 19-year-old, he offered him $5,000. Perhaps a bit stingy coming from the world’s richest man?

Musk’s message allegedly stated: “Can you take this down? It is a security risk.” 

Sweeney replied: “Yes I can but it’ll cost you a Model 3 only joking unless?” to which Musk then said: “I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase.” 

After a bit more back and forth, Musk proceeded to offer Sweeney $5,000, to which Sweeney replied: “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.” 

After agreeing to think about the terms Sweeney laid out, Musk has reportedly not been back in touch.

Earlier this month, Musk tweeted that social-media accounts tracking his movements were ‘becoming a security issue’, suggestively feeding into speculation surrounding this Twitter conversation. 

Last week, it was reported that Musk's brain implant company, Neuralink, is nearing human trials after the company posted job listings for a clinical trial director and coordinator.

The neurotechnology company is creating implantable brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) that could connect humans to computers.

It launched officially in 2016 and has secured almost $200 million in funding to date, half of which was from Musk himself.

The new roles being advertised will oversee human trials of the medical device, which has already been demonstrated on monkeys and pigs.

The company planned to start experimenting on humans in 2020, but that goal has been delayed.

Neuralink was launched to make devices that treat serious brain diseases, but has the long-term goal of 'human enhancement'.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Elon Musk, Twitter, Technology