Tesla founder, Elon Musk offered to pay a tech-savvy teenager $5,000 to shut down an account that kept tabs on his private jet due to concerns about his personal safety.
The billionaire reached out to the 19-year-old college student, Jack Sweeney, last November to express concern about a Twitter account he runs called @ElonJet, which provides regular updates on flights of well-known figures by using publicly available data, according to direct messages reviewed by the Post and first reported by Protocol.
“Can you take this down? It is a security risk,” Musk wrote to him in a direct message on Twitter dated Nov. 30.
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The pair exchanged several more messages, with Musk pressing for details on how Sweeney set up the bots and what he earned by operating them. Eventually, Musk offered $5,000 to delete the account.
Elon Musk reportedly called the Twitter account a ‘security risk.’
“I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase,” Musk said.
Sweeney counteroffered at $50,000, telling Musk the money would be
“great support in college and would possibly allow me to get a car maybe even a Model 3,” according to Protocol.
College student Jack Sweeney, above, is the brains behind @ElonsJet, Courtesy Jack Sweeney.
Musk said he would consider the offer, but later said it didn’t “feel right” to pay to shut down the account. Eventually, he stopped responding.
Tesla representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Tesla reportedly dissolved its PR team last year.
When reached for comment, Sweeney said it was “awesome, but kinda scary” to receive a DM from Musk. He added that he would like to work for one of Musk’s companies in the future.
Musk direct messaged Sweeney on Twitter trying to get the account taken down.
Musk is one of the world’s most recognizable business leaders. He’s also one of the world’s richest people, with a personal net worth of more than $240 billion as of Thursday, according to Forbes.
The Tesla founder recently expressed concern about accounts tracking his travel.
Earlier this month, Musk addressed the issue on Twitter after one of his followers, a Tesla investor, apologized for sharing a post claiming the billionaire planned to travel to Berlin, Germany.
While the reports about the timing of Musk’s trip proved to be incorrect, the billionaire noted that accounts tracking his travel were “becoming a security issue.”
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