Jack Sweeney, the Florida teen who tracks Elon Musk's private jet online, has a new aviation-themed target: Russian oligarchs and billionaires.
The 19-year-old, who declined Musk's $5,000 offer to delete his Twitter account, recently launched two new automated Twitter handles - @RUOligarchJets and @Putinjet - after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The two profiles combined have amassed nearly 300,000 followers and provide near-live updates of the private jet's movements, as well as map photos of them.
Sweeney told the Wall Street Journal that people have long been asking him to start such Twitter accounts, and that those requests to target Russia's richest people intensified after the sanctions.
Russia's oligarchs face economic chaos at home and punishment by the West after President Vladimir Putin orders its troops into Ukraine. The United States and its allies have responded by approving wealthy individuals close to the Kremlin.
Some of the jets tracked by the accounts include Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich, businessman Alisher Usmanov and Leonid Mikhelson, the billionaire chairman of Russian gas producer Novatek.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Sweeney said he was stunned by the size of the planes used by Russian oligarchs.
"The planes these oligarchs have are absolutely insane," Sweeney said. The richest people in the country are traveling on commercial sized planes like the Airbus A319 and Boeing 737. "Their planes are much bigger than other jets."
In total, the accounts track more than 40 aircraft and helicopters belonging to Russian oligarchs. He has invited others to help increase the number of planes that can be tracked.
Sweeney's Twitter account tracking Musk is still live. He told the Journal that he would only remove it in exchange for a new Tesla Model 3.