Tesla CEO Elon Musk has inspired many people, especially the young ones. He has an army of followers on social media who follow him dedicatedly.
However, this follower went a little too far with his passion for Elon Musk. Recently, the billionaire had to offer a bribe to a teenager who was reportedly tracking private jets.
According to reports, the college student was keeping a tab on Musk’s private life, along with other high-profile figures. The SpaceX CEO managed to find the hacker on Twitter.
The student was identified as 19-year-old Jack Sweeney. Musk reached out to him on the microblogging website and expressed concerns regarding the Twitter account Sweeney runs, called Elon Musk’s Jet (@ElonJet).
Twitter
To stop him from his shenanigans, Musk offered the teenager $5,000 (roughly Rs. 3.75 lakh) to stop tweeting about his jets. However, Sweeny turned down the offer and demanded $50,000 (roughly Rs. 37.55 lakh). He said that the amount would cover his school fees and help him buy a Tesla car.
According to the news website Protocol, @ElonJet is one of 15 flight-tracking accounts Sweeney has created. The account is run by bots which he has programmed to track planes every time they take off and land. Sweeney has tracked private jets of other high-profile people like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. However, the account Elonjet, which especially tracks Musk’s planes, has the highest followers.
NY Post (Jack Sweeney)
Reports suggest that after having a conversation on Twitter DM, Musk agreed to pay the amount Sweeney had demanded but so far hasn’t paid a dime to him.
The teenager calls himself a fan of Musk and said that he has no issues if the billionaire ghosts him. He said he has benefitted a lot from @ElonJet, and his other accounts. He has a large following on social media, learned how to code, and also got a part-time job at UberJets as an application developer.
He is simply happy that he got to talk to Musk. He also said that he knows why Musk has become silent after agreeing to pay him the money. Why? It is because he is holidaying in Hawaii, and of course, Sweeney knows that!
For more trending stories, click here.