Elon Musk reportedly offered a 19 year-old $5,000 to take down a Twitter account that tracks his private jet, but the teenager wants more money

Elon Musk is one of the most admired tech CEOs in the world. He’s also the world’s richest person. However, many were surprised to hear that Musk had offered a paltry sum of money to a 19-year-old to take down a Twitter account that tracks his private jet. But the young boy is asking for more money.

According to a report by tech news Protocol, Elon Musk the 19-year-old Jack Sweeney $5,000 to take down a Twitter account that tracks his private jet. Protocol reported that Sweeney received a message in fall last year at 12:13 a.m. from Musk offering $5k to take down the account. “Can you take this down? It is a security risk,” Musk requested.

Sweeney replied: “Yes I can but it’ll cost you a Model 3 only joking unless?” Protocol reported. Musk said: “I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase,” according to Protocol. Musk offered Sweeney $5,000 after a few messages back and forth, Protocol reported.

“Any chance to up that to $50k? It would be a great support in college and would possibly allow me to get a car maybe even a Model 3,” Sweeney responded, per Protocol.

The “Elon Musk’s Jet” account tracks Elon Musk’s Private Jet(N628TS) with a bot using public ADS-B data from ADSBExchange. The account also shows the movements of Musk’s private jet, using bots that monitor publicly available air-traffic data.

For example, below is a post from ElonJet tweeted about 18 hours ago showing that Musk landed in Austin, Texas.

https://twitter.com/ElonJet/status/1486471951606599683

According to the outlet, Musk said he would think about it but has not been back in touch. When Sweeney told Musk where he was aggregating the data from, Musk responded: “Air traffic control is so primitive,” Protocol reported.