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Did Elon Musk spend $3bn to STOP Jack Sweeney from tracking his jets? Twitter thinks so

Musk had previously offered the teen $5,000 to stop tweeting about his jets, which he turned down and demanded $50,000

SpaceX founder Elon Musk recently purchased a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him one of its biggest shareholders, and this seems to have created quite a buzz on social media. After news emerged about Elon's investment, many people wondered about his agenda behind the purchase of the social media company, which led him to take a big step in his entrepreneurial journey. 

Many social media users citing Elon's strained relations with the platform are now claiming that the tech billionaire spent billions of dollars on Twitter just to ban the account of the teenager who was tracking his private jet trips. Even the Twitter account that is tracking Elon Musk's jet put up a post assuming the same. 

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The @ElonJet tweet read: "Did Elon start buying Twitter stock because of me (@JxckSweeney) telling him no?" The account was set up by Jack Sweeney, 19, a college freshman student at the University of Central Florida. 

Previously, Elon Musk reached out to Jack Sweeney on the microblogging platform, where the tech mogul expressed his concerns regarding the Twitter account the teenager runs, called Elon Musk's Jet (@ElonJet). The billionaire offered the teenager $5,000 to stop tweeting about his jets. However, the teenager reportedly turned down the offer and demanded $50,000 saying the amount would cover his school fees and help him buy a Tesla car.

The teenager further defended his account claiming that he is not invading anyone's privacy. Sweeney wrote on Elon Musk's Jet Twitter page: "This account has every right to post jet whereabouts, ADS-B data is public, every aircraft in the world is required to have a transponder, Even AF1 (@AirForceTrack). Twitter policy states data found on other sites is allowed to be shared here as well."

Meanwhile, several social media users claimed that Elon Musk purchased a 9.2% stake in Twitter to ban the teenager's account. One social media user wrote, "Did @elonmusk just buy 10% of twitter so that teenager with the bot that tracks Elon’s private plane could be deplatformed?" Another user added, "I like to think Elon Musk bought 9.2% of Twitter to stop @ElonJet from tracking his plane." A third agreed, "lol Elon basically own twitter and I feel like he bought it to stop that kid from doing live updates of his plane." Someone else chimed in, "Pretty sure Elon just spent $3B in order to ban the account of that kid who tracks his flights". 

As of now, Jack Sweeney who is still tracking planes and has now ventured into tracking Russian oligarchs' superyachts and jets seems to be having trouble getting his Twitter account verified. On Thursday, April 7, the teenager took to Twitter and wrote: "Twice now 120k isn't enough or am I applying wrong @verified?" after his request to have his Twitter account verified was rejected because the "evidence provided by the teenager did not meet the platform's criteria for notability".

The 19-year-old commenting under his post further wrote, "I’ve had multiple accounts impersonating me seems like I should be able to get it when I’m being impersonated." One user asked him to "Talk to @elonmusk". Another added, "So odd! I mean, you are far more notable than most #verified accounts. You have the following. Most of the US knows who you are at this point (if not by name alone then by actions for sure!). I'm honestly shocked @verified hasn't verified you already. Sounds sketch on their part."