Twitter chief and former world’s richest man Elon Musk has made an abrupt policy change to Twitter’s policies, enacting a sweeping ban on any account tracking real-time fight data.
“Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info,” Tweeted Musk, although “posting locations someone travelled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok”.
Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.As pointed out by former Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) employee Michael Rihani, Musk’s flight-tracking ban is a direct contradiction to prior statements.Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 15, 2022
“My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk,” wrote Musk in a November 7 Tweet.
This comment was ostensibly in reference to now-banned Twitter account @elonjet, which used publicly available plane tracking data to follow which airports Musk’s private jet flew to.
Your plane isn’t “anyone.”Not content with shutting down @elonjet and similar accounts, Musk has also launched legal action against the page’s owner, 20-year-old Jack Sweeney.Your plane’s data is also public information.
Free speech!*
*as long as it doesn’t hurt Elon
**ok just kidding, speech is $8/mo as long as it’s said 24 hours laterhttps://t.co/CuB2WMelyg
— Michael Rihani⚡️ (@MichaelRihani) December 15, 2022
Musk blamed Sweeney’s @elonjet account for a recent stalking incident, suggesting that Sweeney “supported harm to my family".
Per the social media platform’s privacy statement, Twitter itself requests location data from its users, although users may opt out if desired.
Twitter-based plane trackers have been used to follow the likes of Vladimir Putin and Bill Gates.
In November, a Gulfstream G450 jet heading from The Bahamas to Argentina briefly became the most-tracked aircraft on rumours that it was carrying Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former head of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.