College Student Who Tracked Elon Musk’s Private Jet Now Targeting Russian Oligarchs On Twitter
The Russian Oligarch Jets Twitter account went live shortly after the U.S. sanctioned Vladimir Putin’s wealthy inner circle.
Jack Sweeney, the 19-year-old Florida college student who created a Twitter bot that posts locations of Elon Musk’s private jet, is turning his tech-savvy sights on Russia’s wealthiest and most powerful oligarchs amid the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine.
Sweeney is also behind the new “Russian Oligarch Jets” Twitter account, reports Business Insider. The automated feed was launched on February 27 shortly after the U.S. sanctioned several members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, promising to find and freeze their financial assets.
But despite the punitive measures designed to cripple the Russian elite, they’ve continued to cross the globe as usual. CNBC also reports that some have moved their megayachts to wealthy, neutral locales like Montenegro and the Maldives.
And Sweeney is making their travels known via Russian Oligarch Jets. Several snippets of flight info from aircraft owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, including a Caribbean helicopter ride, have already been tweeted. Other targeted tycoons include Vladimir Potanin, Norilsk Nikel, and Alexander Abramov.
Sweeney is also attempting to make data on Vladimir Putin’s travels more accessible via the Russian VIP & Putin Jets Twitter account, although he warns that more inaccuracies are to be expected because of the lack of available data on flights within Russia.
The University of Central Florida student previously achieved internet fame after Musk reached out with an offer of $5,000 to purchase the Elon Musk’s Jet Twitter account.
“Can you take this down? It is a security risk,” Musk said in DMs, adding that the student would be “generally helping make it harder for crazy people to track me,” per Business Insider.
Sweeney countered with an offer of $50,000, saying that the money would go toward college funding or buying a Tesla Model 3. But while Musk reportedly considered the counteroffer at first, he changed his tune later, saying it “doesn’t feel right to pay to shut this down.”
Meanwhile, Musk responded swiftly when Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted an appeal to bring SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service to his besieged country.
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