The account automatically reporting private jet rides fromElon Musk was suspended by the platform on Wednesday despite the entrepreneur’s promise not to touch it, illustrating its variable geometry approach to moderation. ” My engagement in favor of freedom of expression goes so far as not to ban the account that follows my plane, even if it poses a direct risk to my personal security, ”Elon Musk wrote on Twitter in early November, a few days following buying the platform for 44 billion dollars.
The billionaire has he changed his mind? “Account suspended” was simply written on the account in question, baptized@ElonJet, Wednesday. Created by a student and followed by approximately 500,000 people, @ElonJet used public data to automatically indicate when and where the aircraft of the boss of Spacex et Tesla took off and landed.
Creator’s account also suspended
In a message posted at the top of the account when it was still visible, its author stressed having “all rights to transmit information” on the jet insofar as the data is public and that all the planes, even that of the American president Air Force 1, have the obligation to be equipped with a transponder, a device intended to help in their identification by radars. “Twitter policy states that data found on other sites may be shared here as well,” the post read.
Many platform users also report that the student’s personal account, Jack Sweeney, is also suspended. Since his arrival at the head of the platform, the multi-billionaire has sent mixed messages regarding what is authorized or not. Fervent defender of a great freedom of expression, he restored accounts previously banned by the social network, including that of Donald Trump. But he also suspended that of Kanye West following the publication of several messages deemed anti-Semitic.