Despite Elon Musk stating that he would not remove the Twitter account that shared location tracking of his private jet, the ElonJet account has been suspended. The ban comes with the introduction of new safety terms from the social media company.

Twitter Bans ElonJet, Introduces New Terms

Screenshots of the banned ElonJet account, as well as news reports on the ban, did the rounds on Twitter shortly before the company announced its new terms. The changes were announced on 14 December.

The new terms state that you cannot share someone's live location in the majority of cases. Twitter says that this is due to a risk of physical harm. As a result, the company will suspend accounts that share this information. Both the ElonJet account, as well as creator Jack Sweeney's personal account, have been banned on Twitter.

This is despite Musk saying that he would not ban the account in November 2022, as part of his commitment to free speech. The tweet by Musk now carries a Community Note which states that: "The implied account in this tweet is elonjet, which is currently banned."

The note adds: "Elonjet used to use publicly available plane tracking data to follow which airports Musk's private jet flew to."

Why Did Twitter Ban the ElonJet Account?

So what changed? According to Musk, the previous night, someone had followed a car thinking he was in it. They allegedly blocked the car and climbed on the hood. The car had Musk's son in it, but not Musk himself.

While Musk did not mention whether the person used the ElonJet account in any way, he has said that he is taking legal action against Sweeney and other organizations.

This event seems to have coincided with the release of the changes to Twitter policy. The new Twitter terms allow you to share location information that is historical or for public engagements and events, but not location information of travel routes. The fact that this information may be publicly available, as in the case of flight route data, does not protect you from a Twitter ban.

The updated terms note that, among other items, the following type of private information cannot be shared on Twitter without the person's permission:

"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."

According to New York Times reporter Ryan Mac, around 30 accounts run by Sweeney have been banned. Some of these accounts tracked other billionaires' private jet usage, but others included government agencies and Russian oligarchs, according to the New York Times.

The decision has resulted in criticism, especially in light of the amnesty Twitter is giving previously suspended accounts and Musk's previous commitments to free speech that's not illegal.

Twitter Terms Now Ban Plane Tracking

The new terms prevent others from creating bots that track the plane routes of public figures, despite this information being publicly available. This will likely prevent copycats from creating new accounts which perform the same feature.

However, the ban has also resulted in criticism of Musk due to the seemingly targeted nature of the change in terms.