UCF student, tracker of celebrities’ jets gets social accounts suspended. What we know
- by USA Today
- Oct 23, 2024
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USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
A University of Central Florida student infamous to several celebrities has declared that his jet-tracking accounts have been "zucked."
Meta, formerly the Facebook company, has suspended several of Jack Sweeney's accounts that post location updates for private jets of some of the world’s most powerful people, from politicians to popstars.
In a statement to his personal Threads account, Sweeney said he had a total of 38 accounts banned across several platforms. He added that he did not receive any warnings from Meta and said this situation is a poor look for the company.
He also said he could not appeal these suspensions to Meta's Oversight Board. He said that the company's "lack of transparency" makes the situation more concerning.
Who is Jack Sweeney?
Sweeney is a student studying computer science at the University of Central Florida near Orlando with a lifelong interest in aviation. While he was still a teenager he created software called bots to track and share the location of several prominent billionaires such as Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Cuban, Donald Trump, Bill Gates and the rapper Drake, along with departing and arriving cities, cost of fuel used and amount of CO² emissions created.
The information from his accounts has been used to shame celebrities and other famous people for their "disproportionately high" impact on climate change.
Why were Sweeney's accounts suspended?
In a statement to Business Insider, a Meta spokesperson told the outlet: "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."
In a post on Threads, Sweeney shared his feelings about the comment. He said Meta didn't contact him prior to the suspension and only announced it after the fact.
Is Elon Musk or Taylor Swift involved? Sweeney claims they might be behind suspension
In his statement, two notable names jumped out — popstar Taylor Swift and tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Sweeney received worldwide attention earlier this year after Swift sent Sweeney two cease-and-desist letters to get him to stop tracking her jet. Last December, Swift's Lawyer Katie Wright Morrone threatened legal action against Sweeney. No lawsuits have been filed as of Oct. 23.
He touched on how his account tracking Swift was suspended 10 months prior while his others were untouched. The statement says: "(The initial suspension) is likely due to Meta's partnership with Swift resulting in special treatment."
As for Musk, the pair have history as well. Back in 2022, Elon offered $5,000 to Sweeney to get him to stop tracking his jet, which he refused. Elon later went on to suspend his account from X, formerly Twitter, once acquiring the platform.
"I’d put in so much work and time, and it’s something I enjoy doing and 5K doesn’t seem like a lot for how much I get out of it and I enjoy doing it," Sweeney said to FOX 35 when Musk first offered him money to shut the account down.
Over the years, the two have gone back and forth about the @elonjet account. In his new statement, Sweeney says towards the bottom that: "I'm not sure if this decision came directly from Meta or not, but it's worth noting, just yesterday, Elon Musk supporters were vocal of the suspension of @taylorswiftjets while @elonjet remained."
"Ironically, Elon Musk, who once criticized Twitter for its lack of free speech, is now using the very same techniques—shadow-banning jet-tracking accounts and blocking links to public information that tracks his jet."
Can you legally track a private plane?
Despite heated online debates about Sweeney's accounts between pop culture fans, climate activists and aviation enthusiasts, jet tracking is not illegal.
How is jet tracking possible?
Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast, or ADS-B, is what makes it possible.
Per the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, ADS-B is an "advanced surveillance technology that combines an aircraft’s positioning source, aircraft avionics, and a ground infrastructure to create an accurate surveillance interface between aircraft and ATC."
The website says it works by broadcasting information about an aircraft's GPS location, altitude, ground speed and other data to ground stations and other aircraft, once per second.
NBC News detailed how this technology also allows airplanes to be easily tracked by anyone with a compatible receiver. For those who want to go the extra mile, they also can obtain enough additional information to find out who is on the plane.
Is private plane information public?
It is. In the United States, aircraft registration is considered public information.
The FAA does offer a program to allow jet operators to opt out of sharing tail numbers in an effort to conceal identities. However, sources who don’t use FAA data do not have to obey those restrictions and can still publish the information from a jet’s transponder.
Is there any legislation regarding tracking private aircrafts?
Currently, there aren't any U.S. laws regarding tracking private jets and other aircraft.
However, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law in May 2023 to conceal details about his trips on both state planes and private, chartered flights, including the names of staff and family members traveling with him.
The law also applies to both current and past trips taken by the governor, as well as other top Florida officials.
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