JxckSweeney suspended (ElonJet guy's personal account)

by GavCo • 4 years ago

204 155 4 years ago

minimaxir6• 4 years ago

The other jet accounts run by the same person such as Jeff Bezos's jets (https://twitter.com/bezosjets) and Mark Zuckerberg's jets (https://twitter.com/zuccjet) were also suspended.

I look very much toward what moderation rationale Elon will give for this. He's most likely trying to avoid bias by banning all the jet accounts so he doesn't look like a hypocrite by only banning his own jet account (as noted in the previous thread), in which case, it's way too late for that.

EDIT: The official ban reason for the personal account suspension is violating rules "against platform manipulation and spam" (which, lol)

https://twitter.com/RMac18/status/1603118347716939776

meepmorp4• 4 years ago

It's weird to ban just the one account, then all the others several hours later. Really makes it look like Musk's personal reaction to criticism.

te_chris• 4 years ago

I mean just call it as it is: totally that. He’s so thin skinned and petty. He spent 44bil of various people’s money to do what, exactly? Apart from own the libs, that is

paulpauper2• 4 years ago

He saw he got criticism for singling out one account, and then to look consistent he banned the others. This is easier than reinstating the original one and admiting error.

anttisalmela2• 4 years ago

Why would Elon give any rationale?

paulgb2• 4 years ago

For one thing, because he specifically stated that he wouldn't ban the @elonjet account: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1589414958508691456?s=46...

gnud_man• 4 years ago

Could Elon give any rationale? Rationale of course depending on internal consistency and coherency. Elon's public persona seems to be a mess of contradictions with itself.

d233• 4 years ago

At some point I think he'll move to just not even bothering explaining anything since he knows his fans will defend him. His justification could be literal gibberish, and his defenders would be resorting to the Kabbalah to try to translate it into something coherent.

ssnistfajen6• 4 years ago

He doesn't have to. However for a self-paraded "free speech absolutist" who literally said he would not suspend @elonjet in order to follow that principle, this act makes him a massive hypocrite and demonstrates his free speech advocacy to be nothing but a show.

Also, arbitrary suspensions like this when Twitter no longer has any decision-making council on such policies is not a good sign for corporate advertisers who prefer stability & reputation. Can't find those on a platform where one manchild has taken a dictatorial position.

SketchySeaBeast4• 4 years ago

Looks like https://twitter.com/BillGatesJet is still up. Let's see how long that last. It feels to me like that's exactly it - he got called out and now he's banning others to make it seem like a blanket policy. As usual he's being impulsive and reactionary.

minimaxir6• 4 years ago

That's an offshoot: the correct account is https://twitter.com/GatesJet which was indeed suspended.

klyrs3• 4 years ago

A notable exception:

https://twitter.com/gva_watcher

thebradbain• 4 years ago

Especially because he specifically tweeted he would not ban it: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1589414958508691456?s=46...

Firmwarrior2• 4 years ago

haha, man. Friggin Elon couldn't keep it together for even a few weeks

At this rate the site is eventually just going to turn into a slightly right wing version of the same swamp it was before

edit: Easy there, lads. I'm not a hard-Leftist either. Just a Free Speech enjoyer

lost_tourist2• 4 years ago

More of that "free speech absolutist" in evidence.

ssnistfajen6• 4 years ago

The tracking bots were labelled as bots long ago. @elonjet's handle was also shadowbanned in Twitter search. The suspension reason is so weak it only reinforces Elon's hypocrisy.

pfisherman3• 4 years ago

Conspiracy theory time…

Perhaps there is actually a credible threat on Elon’s life? Starlink is providing internet services to Ukraine. Elon has seemingly waded into US partisan politics and become a controversial figure. If someone told me that Vladimir Putin put a green light on him, I would not find it outside the realm of belief.

But this is a total crackpot speculation for purposes of entertaining discussion on the internet.

georgeg233• 4 years ago

They could just track him on the ElonJet on Facebook or Mastadon

cyberphobe3• 4 years ago

more likely non-crackpot non-conspiracy: perhaps Elon is actually just this stupid.

SXX4• 4 years ago

How exactly would banning Twitter account re-posting publicly available information affect his safety? Yeah Russian secret service is incompetent, but they are certainly able to google for "elon musk jet tracker".

mikrotikker3• 4 years ago

Ukraine put a green light on him for a hot minute when he suggested negotiation.

erlich5• 4 years ago

Simple question: do you think people's location should tracked and publicized? The answer is always no.

It's also against Twitter terms of service.

It's called a wedge. You are being forced into criticizing him for doing something that you actually want him to be doing.

Your only way out is to argue that doxing is okay for billionaires or something like that - which is basically saying "if I make enough money I think its okay to be personally harassed and doxed" - which is really tough to believe.

TigeriusKirk• 4 years ago

I do agree that tracking people and publicizing their location against their will should be banned. This is clear and obvious to me.

But, and this is a big but, Musk specifically used this account as an example of his commitment to free speech.

So if Elon Musk gets splashback on this, there's no one to blame but Elon Musk.

RavingGoat• 4 years ago

I think the problem is the whole it's apparently ok to post people's location as long as it isn't Elon or maybe some other rich person. The problem is determining if you are posting for good or to incite violence.

paulpauper2• 4 years ago

this semes like an example of overreacting on Elon's part. The reputational loss does not seem worth it

3232• 4 years ago

But it does. He sends a clear signal that criticism of him is not allowed.

You will see that no-one with a significant following which applauded his recent "free-speech" actions will say a word about this.

Just like in the mafia, the boundaries of what's allowed must be very clear and ruthlessly enforced.

ALittleLight2• 4 years ago

There is an immense amount of criticism of Musk on Twitter. Automation tweeting a celebrity's current location seems very different than "criticism".

reb• 4 years ago

Does this really seem like something that will cost him with the audience he's been courting in recent years? At this point I feel pretty confident they enjoy watching idols squash their "enemies" as much as they enjoy watching them role-play victimhood.

nickthegreek3• 4 years ago

Tesla stock isnt great... and I know several people who were excited for their next car to be Tesla's. One of them just bought the VW id.4. I have decided to hold off on my EV purchase (After test driving Tesla locally and loving them) for a few years and seeing what the other auto makers are putting out. Whatever car I do get, it will not be a Tesla.

devmor• 4 years ago

The demographic he's courting is not one for logical or ethical consistency. As long as people they don't like are punished and people they do like are uplifted, all is good.

d233• 4 years ago

If this causes you to see through him, you aren't the target audience. He wants unquestioned fealty, regardless of logical inconsistencies.

aeternum• 4 years ago

Especially when he used it as an example of his commitment to free speech.

This really takes the wind out of the 'twitter files', shows that anything can be construed as a safety risk and censored at will.

ssnistfajen6• 4 years ago

The Twitter Files just appeared to be typical inner workings of a tech company that has to deal with sociopolitical issues related to their product. Sure I enjoyed reading the Slack screenshots but it's not some conspiracy that mainstream media outlets aren't covering this story. It just isn't that remarkable or explosive.

CamperBob2• 4 years ago

The reputational loss does not seem worth it

As if calling out people who annoy him as pedophiles was worth it?!

This guy is running completely open-loop. You hate to see it at his level of play... or at least I do.

jjcm• 4 years ago

Likely will be suspended for the same thing, since this account was also posting the internal screenshots. Still I suspect that this will be a Streisand effect and it will just amplify things more.

minimaxir6• 4 years ago

since this account was also posting the internal screenshots

Elon hasn't banned journalists from posting leaked internal screenshots of Twitter's Slack.

Yet.

dmatech• 4 years ago

There'd be much more blowback for doing that. But showing stuff on Twitter that's leaked from Twitter and intended to influence Twitter is pretty dangerous.

klyrs3• 4 years ago

He's threatening leakers with lawsuits. Quite a departure from his promises of transparency...

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/12/leaked-email-sho...

GavCo4• 4 years ago

You can still keep track of Elon's jet if you're willing to venture on to Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ElonJet/

anamexis• 4 years ago

Also on Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@elonjet

MonkeyMalarky• 4 years ago

Account was created today and his follower count has doubled since I last looked. Good job Elon! Keep those personally motivated bans coming!

GavCo4• 4 years ago

My HN post of this was flagged, wonder why

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33989147

braingenious• 4 years ago

This sort of stuff is so incredibly funny. It’s like a few years ago Elon Musk decided “I want to be Richard ‘Lowtax’ Kyanka!” and then did not keep track of what happened to that guy in recent history.

GavCo4• 4 years ago

Talk about Streisand effect:

https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/14/elon-jet-the-twitter-accou...

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/14/twitter-suspends-elonjet-acc...

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/dec/14/twitter-e...

https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/14/23508898/elonjet-twitter...

https://www.axios.com/2022/12/14/twitter-elon-musk-jet-track...

https://nypost.com/2022/12/14/jet-tracking-teen-lashes-out-a...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/twitter-account-tracking-elon-...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-14/twitter-s...

https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-twitter-elonjet-banned-private...

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/twitter-suspe...

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/14/tech/elonjet-twitter-susp...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63978323

https://www.engadget.com/twitter-elonjet-banned-suspended-el...

https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-suspends-bot-acco...

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/twitter-...

https://news.sky.com/story/twitter-account-which-tracked-elo...

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/twitter-suspends...

ethagknight• 4 years ago

I dont know about the personal account, but aren't these jet accounts bots? Isn't that exactly what Elon said he was going to do? It's possible that the personal account was tied via IPs to the bots.

meepmorp4• 4 years ago

Declared bot accounts are perfectly fine according to twitter's TOS

vhold• 4 years ago

For reference: https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-autom...

function_seven• 4 years ago

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1589414958508691456

SketchySeaBeast4• 4 years ago

I honestly can't believe that is still up.

ssnistfajen6• 4 years ago

Clearly-labelled automated accounts have been on Twitter for a long time and they never were part of the spam problem to begin with.

folsom• 4 years ago

As much as I support someone having the right to be an asshole, if you come be an asshole at my house you can be damn sure that I will shut it down and you will have to find somewhere else to be an asshole. These things do not contradict and it does not make me a hypocrite.

bestcoder693• 4 years ago

Unless you go around saying "I'm going to buy this house and make it the house where we don't kick anyone out, unlike the looney left".

SketchySeaBeast4• 4 years ago

If you say your house is a bastion of free speech and everyone is invited, it does in fact make you a hypocrite.

And this REALLY does:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1589414958508691456

d233• 4 years ago

I'm genuinely curious: are you not aware of his previous explicit promise to not ban the elonjet account?

colordrops• 4 years ago

It's a contradiction if you told people they could say anything they want at your house as long as it's legal.

yokoprime• 4 years ago

If you go: "I don't like what you're saying, but I will still allow you it in my house". Then a short while later you throw said person out because you don't like what they are saying. You are of course not in violation of any laws and it's your right to do so but trust just plummeted as we cannot belive anything you're saying.

jjulius• 4 years ago

These things do not contradict and it does not make me a hypocrite.

They sure don't! Unless, of course, you say, "Hey, you can be an asshole in my house," and then immediately kick them out for being the asshole you said they could be.

cft• 4 years ago

ugh. I was cheering up this acquisition, but now I am done with Twitter.

SXX4• 4 years ago

Twitter also blocked US Air Force trackers:

https://twitter.com/USAirForceVIP

https://twitter.com/AirForceTrack

It's now bannable to share where US officials are heading.

And they also banned Putin Jet account:

https://twitter.com/PutinJet

meepmorp4• 4 years ago

I bet we're witnessing a new Twitter policy being made up in real time

SXX4• 4 years ago

Yeah. Soon Twitter will be dead for OSINT.

They banned almost every account using ADS-B:

https://twitter.com/ruoligarchjets

These Twitter accounts were very useful to track movements of Putin's cronies and spread the information. Now thanks to Elon this is no longer possible.

toofy• 4 years ago

to paraphrase what i said on the other thread,

elon is telling us that, in a very real way, he understands how real world safety may be impacted by posts.

it should concern us that he actively mocks and treats groups as hysterical or unreasonable when they ask for twitter to help mitigate even more immediate and very real threats on their safety.

we know he understands why they ask twitter for help, but he mocks them. he obviously understands the real world implications, yet he escalates. this is actually concerning.

jacquesm• 4 years ago

What you are witnessing is the weaponization of social media.

rlt2• 4 years ago

I’ve been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt because I do believe free speech, even on commercial platforms, is an ideal worth upholding, but he’s making it really hard with actions like this.

He says he wants Twitter to appeal to the 80% in the middle of the political spectrum, but he is obviously alienating larger and larger groups of people on the center and left.

ssnistfajen6• 4 years ago

He actively replies/likes accounts with right wing to far-right leanings. Most of these accounts aren't found or recommended unless the user actively looks for them. This says a lot about Elon and his so-called independent leaning.

rlt2• 4 years ago

It’s possible for him to personally be right-leaning and also fairly enforce apolitical rules on his platform, it just doesn’t seem like he’s doing it.

erlich5• 4 years ago

Come on dude. It's a plane tracking account. It's clearly against terms of service. It's not exactly an assault on free speech.

live location information, including information shared on Twitter directly or links to 3rd-party URL(s) of travel routes, actual physical location, or other identifying information that would reveal a person’s location, regardless if this information is publicly available;

https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/personal-info...

Would you want someone to have an account tracking your location?

Chinjut2• 4 years ago

Elon Musk explicitly said his commitment to free speech could be measured by his commitment to not banning this account (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1589414958508691456).

Furthermore, the passage you cite from Twitter policy was only added today, in order to ban this account (see https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/14/elonjet..., which notes that this can be confirmed by looking at https://web.archive.org/web/20221213101556/https://help.twit..., a snapshot of the same policy page taken yesterday).

vkou2• 4 years ago

Would you want someone to have an account tracking your location?

I wouldn't want nazis to be given megaphones, that sort of thing tends to end with blood in the trenches, but he's doing just that by unbanning Stormfront, et al.

If potential harm[1] is why elonjet is banned, that same argument applies to that filth, as well.

[1] A rabbit hole so wide and long, you can drive a traincar through it.

wnevets• 4 years ago

So let me get this straight. COVID misinformation, QAnon conspiracy theories and general hatred to people different than yourself is ok on twitter but posting public FAA data is not?

ssnistfajen6• 4 years ago

You see, the former ones don't personally impact him while the latter slightly brushes against his ego, and for a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist that is apparently what finally crosses the line.

dang2• 4 years ago

Related ongoing threads:

ElonJet Is Now Suspended - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33983878 - Dec 2022 (1116 comments)

ElonJet – Account Suspended - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33981691 - Dec 2022 (385 comments)

minimaxir6• 4 years ago

Granted, given the size of that thread, there's too much noise there for new pertinent information such as this submission, especially without the ability for new comments to surface easily.

gronky_• 4 years ago

Why have all these threads dropped so far down from the front page?

GaryNumanVevo• 4 years ago

The frontpage ranking algorithm is pretty simple (and open source). It just takes into account post age + votes with an exponential falloff over time. It doesn't take into account comments, so going to news.ycombinator.com/active is probably where you'll see the more active threads.

https://medium.com/hacking-and-gonzo/how-hacker-news-ranking...

dang2• 4 years ago

A combination of user flags, software penalties, and moderation downweights.

Re the mod aspect: we have nothing against this story in principle but the utter degradation of these threads into predictable, reflexive vitriol from (dare I say it) both sides is some of the most profoundly uncurious "conversation" (where by conversation I mean people snarking as loudly as they can and hating on others) that I've seen on HN. It's a disgrace and I feel ashamed.

If it were up to me I'd send everyone to bed without supper, but there's nothing we can do besides downweight the worst that shows up here. We can't convince people of anything, such as the purpose of the site, the destructiveness of what they're doing, or to listen to each other.

It's a lesson in human nature. The line from this to people clubbing each other (and I don't mean dancing together) seems continuous to me.

jimjimjim• 4 years ago

They don't want the whipping to stop, they just want to be the ones holding the whip

3232• 4 years ago

Account tracking Russian oligarch jets also suspended:

https://twitter.com/RUOligarchJets

mehphp• 4 years ago

Someone is rich enough to buy a social platform to suspend an account he doesn't like. That's crazy.

bestcoder693• 4 years ago

Now Twitter is blocking links to https://www.instagram.com/elonmusksjet ... unless you're a super-hacker and know how to add arbitrary query parameters to the end of the URL. Is this Hardcore Engineering?

0cf8612b2e1e2• 4 years ago

This is just too perfect, I hope it enters the lexicon. Anytime I do a bone headed bug, it is hardcore engineering.

aubanel• 4 years ago

It's the first time, out of all of Elon's enterprises (which I on the whole admire a lot), that I don't really see his added value in a business. Even the flamethrower thing was more net positive than his current work at Twitter seems to be.

JxckSweeney suspended (ElonJet guy's personal account)

Related Stories