• Meta has suspended Jack Sweeney’s private jet following accounts on Threads, citing security concerns.
• This is the second time a major social media company has taken action against Sweeney’s accounts.
• He told BI he plans to focus on his own website to have more control over its content.

Jack Sweeney is a student best known for following the private jets of celebrities like Taylor Swift and Elon Musk.

Sweeney first made headlines in 2022 when Musk suspended plane tracking accounts from his X platform. On Monday, Meta decided to do the same — and now Sweeney says he’s lost confidence in big social media companies.

Meta’s decision marks the second time a major tech company has suspended the social media accounts that Sweeney uses to share the flight paths of public figures. His accounts tracking jets owned by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian, Donald Trump and Musk were among those affected.

“First of all, I noticed that ElonJet was just missing,” Sweeney told Business Insider. “It was completely empty. And from what I remember, ElonJet disappeared for a while, and then some time later, more of them started disappearing.”

In a statement provided to BI, Meta cited a “risk of physical harm to individuals” and a recommendation from the company’s independent oversight board for the decision to suspend the accounts.

Celebrities have also expressed concerns about the impact plane tracking accounts could have on their personal security. Musk and Swift have threatened legal action, with Swift saying the accounts constitute “stalking and stalking behavior“.

Although Sweeney acknowledges the privacy and security issues related to his accounts, he is frustrated by Meta’s seemingly abrupt decision. He says he received no communication or warning about the bans and sees no way to appeal.

He suspects he was targeted by one of the public figures he follows, although he says he has no evidence to support this claim.

“It would be nice to know who’s behind this,” Sweeney said. “You don’t suddenly start worrying about something that you haven’t been practicing or choosing to put on hold for two years until someone threatens you or tells you to do it.”

A meta the spokesperson directed Fortune to a Decision 2021 of its Supervisory Board. Meta did not immediately respond to BI’s questions about why it made the decision now and not sooner.

Data shared through Sweeney’s accounts is publicly available. Sweeney began by sharing data from the ADS-B Exchange on Twitter, now X, using automated bots. It later expanded to Instagram and Threads and launched its own database to monitor planes.

Sweeney still manages plane tracking accounts on He says this is something he would have implemented for Threads accounts if given the chance.

“Why not act peacefully and allow this to be delayed? If I had the chance, then I would,” he said. “But I really don’t think it’s a privacy issue; they’re just trying to use it.”

He told BI that he didn’t see the point in trying to restart Threads accounts.

“It’s probably not worth it for the big platforms,” he said, adding that he still manages accounts on smaller platforms like Bluesky and Mastodon.

Sweeney is disappointed with the whole concept of social media platforms run by big tech companies.

“I think new technology is needed,” he said, calling the idea of ​​free speech and citizen journalism on social media platforms “almost an illusion.”

He says he plans to focus on his own website from now on, in order to have more control over content.