Twitter suspends @ElonJet after Musk promises not to ban it

@ElonJet, the account tracking the movements of Elon Musk’s private jet, has been suspended by Twitter. Musk said in November that the account was a “direct risk to personal safety” but that he would not ban it as part of his “commitment to free speech.”

It’s unclear what has changed in the month since that tweet. Posts from @ElonJet are also posted on Instagram and Facebook, and none of them indicate that the account has been doing anything out of the ordinary over the past few days. The last posts on the account were yesterday, showing Musk’s plane landing in Los Angeles after a 48-minute flight.

The ban comes less than a week after the account’s creator, Jack Sweeney, requested the reactive tracker it was quiet limited from Twitter. Sweeney posted a screenshot of an alleged message from Twitter’s internal Slack, showing the company’s trust and safety leader Ella Irwin asking her team to “implement heavy VF [visibility filtering]” to the account “immediately”. Sweeney linked tweets suggesting the restrictions made @ElonJet harder to find on search or offers for a period of time before they were later lifted.

On the edge was unable to confirm the authenticity of the screenshot, and Irwin declined to comment when contacted earlier this week.

Sweeney wrote on Twitter that now the account seems to be suspended. He did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Musk had previously contacted Sweeney, offering to pay to have the account removed over concerns it was a “security risk,” Sweeney previously said New York Times.

The suspension appears to be in contrast to Musk’s stated ideals about how Twitter should be moderated. For months, he has talked about the importance of allowing “free speech” on the platform and ensuring transparency around moderation decisions. In this case, it is still unclear why @ElonJet was grounded.

With additional reporting by Alex Heath.