2 days ago
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A Reddit group that closely tracks the flight movements of billionaire Elon Musk has gone viral, gaining over 200,000 followers. The group, originally created in 2022, gained significant attention after the tech billionaire became associated with the Donald Trump administration. Similar to Jack Sweeney's famous @ElonJet account, it provides updates on Musk's private jet travels, including destinations, durations, and estimated carbon emissions. Data from the group shows Elon Musk's private jet has been quite busy, making 10 flights in just three days, crisscrossing the United States between Texas, Florida, and New York, following Donald Trump's election win.
Here's a recent post:
Landed in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States. Apx. flt. time 1 h 50 min.byu/plane-notify inElonJetTracker
The tracking has sparked mixed reactions online. Some argued that it holds public figures accountable, particularly regarding environmental concerns. However, some called the monitoring an invasion of privacy, even though the data is legally sourced from public air traffic records.
One user wrote, ''He is now a politician. He has no right to privacy because he is not a private citizen anymore.'' Another commented, "I love this tracker. It's great to see a billionaire's physical presence in politics. How quickly into 2025 does the data become unavailable for this tracker."
A third said, "This is really what amazes me about these billionaires like Elon ever since I followed this sub. I'm annoyed if I have to leave my house more than once a day. This guy just lives on the move constantly, travelling between countries hourly, nonstop."
Notably, Musk has been criticized for his frequent use of private jets, which are known for their high carbon footprint. In June 2020, Jack Sweeney, a tech-savvy college student and programmer, created the now-infamous @ElonJet account on X to track and post real-time updates about the movements of his private jet. The student utilised Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology, which publicly broadcasts the location, altitude, and speed of aircraft, to gather flight information. This data, which is legally available for public use, allowed Sweeney to pinpoint Musk's jet locations and post updates to the Twitter account.
However, Musk was not pleased with the tracking and reportedly offered Sweeney $5,000 to shut the account down, citing privacy and safety concerns. Sweeney countered by asking for $50,000, or an internship at Tesla, which Musk declined. The account amassed hundreds of thousands of followers before being banned from Twitter in late 2022, following Musk's acquisition of the platform. Since then, Sweeney has expanded his tracking efforts to include other prominent figures like Taylor Swift, who also threatened him with legal action.
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