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Jack Sweeney, a 20-year-old college student known for his real-time aircraft tracking, has set his sights on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Following his previous success in tracking billionaire Twitter CEO Elon Musk's private jet, Sweeney recently launched the Twitter account @DeSantisJet to monitor the movements of the official Florida jet used by Governor DeSantis for state business.
By utilizing public flight information required by aviation authorities, Sweeney plans to expand his tracking efforts to include other private aircraft associated with DeSantis.
\u201cBreaking: Jack Sweeney, the guy who tracks Elon Musk's private jet, is now tracking the jet of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, on Twitter.\n\n- Days ago DeSantis signed a bill that redacted details about the trips he makes on State-owned aircraft and private aircraft. The data is\u2026\u201d— Brian Krassenstein (@Brian Krassenstein) 1684763852
Similar to his revamped Musk tracker, @elonjet, Sweeney's DeSantis Twitter tracker reports movements with a 24-hour delay. This adjustment adheres to a Twitter rule change implemented after the suspension of Sweeney's original Musk tracking account in December.
Sweeney's account was later restored, but the delay in reporting ensures compliance with the updated policy. Notably, this delay allows Sweeney to bypass a recent Florida law signed by DeSantis, which mandates the secrecy of the governor's travel records.
Sweeney's tracking methodology relies on public data, enabling him to circumvent legal barriers and access publicly available flight information. Despite the Florida law protecting DeSantis' travel records, Sweeney's tracker operates by utilizing flight data accessible to the public.
In addition to Twitter, Sweeney's DeSantis tracker can be found on various social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Furthermore, he has expanded his reach to smaller sites like Telegram, Mastodon, and Nostr.
Sweeney cites DeSantis as "someone that people want to know about." As a rising figure in Republican politics, DeSantis has already announced plans to run in the 2024 election, potentially contending with former President Donald Trump and other announced candidates.
Sweeney's decision to track DeSantis' flights aligns with the increased interest in the governor's activities as he navigates the political landscape and gains attention on a national scale.
Many have praised Sweeney's move as a win for transparency as politics in the wake of DeSantis' campaign announcement.
\u201cExcellent. Let's keep an eye on this criminal.\u201d— Lawrence (@Lawrence) 1684635491
\u201c@TB_Times Thank you for this. It is a travesty that he's changed the laws so we can't see how he's using taxpayer money to fund his Presidential ambitions. We need to get our sunshine laws back in force and make sure we know how ALL politicians are spending our hard earned tax dollars.\u201d— Tampa Bay Times (@Tampa Bay Times) 1684858435
\u201cThis a huge FU to the bogus legislation that the Floriduh legislature passed to shield DeSantis travel\u2014on the taxpayers dime\u2014from scrutiny. And I\u2019m here for it.\u201d— Jim Cahill (@Jim Cahill) 1684795673
\u201c"Student who tracked Elon Musk\u2019s jet now tracking Ron DeSantis, too" \n\nKeep the pressure on.\nhttps://t.co/vWe5A5yJ6H\u201d— David Drolet \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@David Drolet \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1684877562
\u201cHis legislative cronies might be undoing our longstanding Sunshine Laws on gov\u2019t transparency and we won\u2019t know who is visiting our taxpayer funded mansion in Tallahassee and we won\u2019t see his full itinerary, but, \nGenZ has an eye on him. https://t.co/uohB7jHB6e\u201d— Jenna (@Jenna) 1684862837
\u201c@news6wkmg The kid is brave. We need more brave people to stand up to punk DeSantis.\u201d— News 6 WKMG (@News 6 WKMG) 1684711809
\u201c@highbrow_nobrow @WFLA Ok, let\u2019s see who all the secret donors and hypocrites around DeSantis are in their private jets!\u201d— The Intellectualist (@The Intellectualist) 1684793251
\u201cThe same @RonDeSantis who had his flunkies in the Florida legislature pass special legislation to conceal his travel records under the guise of "security and protection." If that's the case, why is the concealment of travel logs retroactive to past trips?\nhttps://t.co/Jnv4uiYQib\u201d— Ron H \ud83d\udfe7 (@Ron H \ud83d\udfe7) 1684822212
Sweeney's profile rose considerably after Musk banned the Twitter account @elonjet last year.
Sweeney confirmed the account had been suspended in a post published to his official Twitter account, which included a picture showing his account had been suspended because it "broke the Twitter Rules" and is now "permanently in read-only mode."
The account's suspension came mere days after Sweeney posted a thread on Twitter titled "My Twitter Files" in which he revealed he'd learned from an anonymous Twitter employee that his account had been subject to a shadow ban, which blocks users without their knowledge, typically by making their posts and comments no longer visible to other users.
Musk later decided to ban Sweeney from the platform altogether but later restored the account amid pushback toward his actions, which have only intensified existing criticism about his penchant for silencing his critics and spreading misinformation.