Meet Jack Sweeney, US programmer who tracks celebrities' private jets

The 21-year-old has developed Twitter bots to track and share the locations of private jets of several prominent individuals.

Published on: Feb 12, 2024, 14:10:24 IST

By HT News Desk, New Delhi

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A new book, due for release on February 20, has revealed that a Twitter (now X) handle run by Jack Sweeney, a US programmer, played a ‘key role’ in Elon Musk's October 2022 acquisition of the social media giant.

Also Read: Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition spark lit by fury at @ElonJet account tracking his private jet, says new book

More recently, Sweeney also angered Taylor Swift, with the singer going to the extent of sending him a legal warning.

Also Read: Taylor Swift sends legal warning to Florida college student who tracks her jet travels

So, who exactly is Jack Sweeney? Here is all you need to know about him:

(1.) Born in 2002, Sweeney is from Orlando, Florida. He holds a Bachelor of Arts/Science from University of Central Florida.

(2.) As a teenager, he developed Twitter bots to track and share the locations of several prominent individuals, including Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Drake, and, later, Swift.

(3.) In February 2022, he told Bloomberg Wealth that he has founded a company called Ground Control to monitor flight activity of prominent billionaires.

(4.) In Musk's case, the 21-year-old, ran an account, @ElonJet, prompting the former to reach out (in January 2022) to then Twitter CEO, Parag Agarwal, seeking that the account be banned from the platform. Agarwal refused, and the chain of events culminated with Musk buying the company.

(5.) Also an entrepreneur, Sweeney features on Forbes 30 Under 30 List 2024.

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HT News Desk
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