In Brief
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Instagram and Threads accounts that track the private jets of celebrities – including Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Kylie Jenner – were suspended on Monday, according to the owner of many such accounts, Florida college student, Jack Sweeney. Meta tells TechCrunch these accounts violated its privacy policy, citing a “risk of physical harm” against the individuals.
Links to Instagram/Threads accounts tracking the flights of former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and other celebrity accounts, produced an error message on Monday night reading, “The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.” Sweeney’s account tracking Taylor Swift’s jet was disabled on Friday.
“Given the risk of physical harm to individuals, and in keeping with the independent Oversight Board’s recommendation, we’ve disabled these accounts for violating our privacy policy,” said a Meta spokesperson in an emailed statement to TechCrunch.
Sweeney posted from his personal account that, “today feels like December 15th 2022,” referencing the time Elon Musk permanently suspended his @ElonJet account from Twitter.
In May, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill that allows private aircraft owners to anonymize their registration information. However, Sweeney has said tracking high-profile individuals is still easily doable, including through tips from other flight-tracking enthusiasts.