Remember when 19-year-old Jack Sweeney launched a Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) account that automatically tracked Elon Musk’s jet? Remember when he claimed that Musk offered him US$5,000 to take it down?
Well, Sweeney recently posed an intriguing question: “Did Elon start buying Twitter stock because of me (@JxckSweeney) telling him no?”
Okay, maybe this inference gives Sweeney far too much credit. It’s important to note that Musk didn’t just buy a few shares, he bought a 9.2% stake and became the social media platform’s largest shareholder, and he was recently appointed to the board. As University of Washington law professor Ryan Calo so plainly put it: Sweeney’s not even a David to Musk’s Goliath. If Musk is Goliath, Sweeney is but a flea on David.
But it’s also important to note that billionaires do things (e.g. channel Dr. Evil and fly interestingly-shaped rockets to space, challenge Vladimir Putin to a duel) just because they can. And really, can anyone say such a move is beyond the Elon Musk, richest person on Earth?
Musk has had an eventful relationship with Twitter through the years. The past four years have been intense: from the Tesla tweet that caused him his chairmanship and US$20 million in SEC fines, to his controversial claims about Covid, and remember that time he compared Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler and deleted it? Heck, it’s even where he “met” and started flirting with his current partner and mother of his two youngest children, musician Claire Boucher, who’s known professionally as Grimes.
This is to say that there are many, many reasons for Musk to want in on the social media platform he can’t seem to get enough of, but timeline-wise, Sweeney’s refusal to take down the jet-tracking account could’ve possibly been the one that pushed him to actually do it.
Sweeney’s DM exchange with the billionaire ended in late January, very shortly before the billionaire started buying shares of the platform. Musk allegedly told the teenager that it didn’t seem right to pay to have the Twitter account taken down. Sweeney then counter-offered and asked for an internship, to which Musk did not respond. After Sweeney’s last message on January 23, he received an automated reply: “You can no longer send messages to this person.”
After barely a week of having Musk — who quite strangely filed a 13G, or a passive stake — on the board, Twitter has already previewed their rollout of the edit button.
It seems that with this new purchase, Musk wants to appear that he’s championing free speech. Which he tried to demonstrate through a recent poll. It’s interesting to note that this was posted after he bought into the social media giant but before the news was made public.
Just what Musk means when he says “free speech” at this point, we have yet to see. What we know is Musk sees the platform as the “de facto public town square,” and maybe it’s where he imagines himself as the de facto leader of the new world.
Meanwhile, Jack Sweeney, the flea, is still tracking planes and has also ventured into tracking Russian-owned superyachts. He seems to be having trouble getting his Twitter account verified.
Information for this briefing was found via Twitter and the sources mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
