Twitter Has Suspended the Account Tracking Elon Musk’s Private Jet
The popular @ElonJet account was suspended from the social media platform, days after the account's owner said he was being shadowbanned.
The Twitter account tracking Elon Musk’s private jet has been suspended, a month after Musk had promised not to ban the profile in the name of “free speech.”
Jack Sweeney, who ran the jet tracker, had told Business Insider on Sunday that his account had already been “shadowbanned,” meaning its visibility had been restricted. As of Wednesday, the account was fully removed.
Since Musk—a self-described “free speech absolutist,” except, apparently, when it comes to jokes at his expense—took over Twitter, multiple accounts have been banned for a variety of reasons.
Several comedians and actors were suspended for mocking the Tesla founder, while a few prominent liberal accounts were blocked (and ultimately reinstated) for no apparent reason.
But other forms of free speech have abounded under Musk. In the 12 hours alone following his chaotic Twitter takeover, use of the n-word increased almost 500 percent, according to the National Contagion Research Institute.
A report released Tuesday by Media Matters and GLAAD found that anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, particularly use of the word “groomer,” has shot up since Musk took the reins in October. Nine well-known anti-LGBTQ accounts saw a 1,200 percent increase in retweets of posts using the slur.
Meanwhile, mentions of a prominent pro-LGBTQ account in tweets using the slur rose more than 225,000 percent.
And Musk has restored accounts previously suspended for propagating violence, including former President Donald Trump and neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin.
Twitter has also dropped its Covid-19 misinformation regulations, and on Monday night dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the independent advisory group formed in 2016 to address issues on the platform including hate speech, violence, and abuse.
It would seem Twitter is becoming less of a free speech haven and more of a “free-for-all hellscape”...which Musk also promised would not happen.