London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jan 19, 2026

0:00
0:00

The teen who tracks Elon Musk's jet agreed to stop monitoring Mark Cuban's flights on Twitter after the billionaire offered business advice

The teen who famously turned down a $5,000 offer to stop tracking Elon Musk's private jet said he stopped sharing data on Mark Cuban's travel history on Twitter after the billionaire reached out with privacy concerns.
Over the course of about four months, Cuban and Jack Sweeney, 19, went back and forth over the account @MCubansJets, which followed several of the "Shark Tank" star's planes.

The deal between the teen and billionaire sheds light on the daily privacy concerns of public figures like Cuban and the lengths they're willing to go to limit their exposure. Last year, Meta paid nearly $27 million for security efforts and private-jet travel for the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"Are you not concerned about safety issues with tracking jets?" Cuban asked Sweeney in a direct message over Twitter in February.

"Not everyone on this platform is stable. Many can be irrational and dangerous," Cuban said in a message to Sweeney. "You tell me what you want so that I can end this risk to my family's safety."

Cuban confirmed that the messages were genuine. He said he initially reported the account on Twitter claiming impersonation, but it was taken down only for a handful of weeks.

Sweeney said he didn't think the accounts posed a major security issue as the data is already available online via public air-traffic-tracking sites like the ADS-B Exchange. He merely puts the data on Twitter via bots that scrape the websites.

"I'm open to taking down some of the accounts, but I'm not going to do it for nothing," Sweeney said.

Over the past few months, the teen has begun tracking a wide variety of aircraft carrying stars like Tom Cruise and Taylor Swift and political and tech figures like former President Donald Trump and Zuckerberg. Sweeney said the accounts took some work to set up but that he could now put them together in about 15 minutes.

Sweeney appeared to agree to disable @MCubansJets in the spring after Cuban offered to give him support on business endeavors. The account, which has nearly 3,000 followers, has not been deleted. But it has not shared Cuban's travel data since April 7. Sweeney said he's no longer sharing the data on Twitter but still tracking the billionaire on his
Discord account.

"By ending this you have me as a friend for life," Cuban said to Sweeney in the DM exchange. "You probably have Elon as a friend for life and I'm guessing that is far more valuable to you than the value of a Tesla. Some day you may start a business and you would have my help."

Cuban gave Sweeney his email address in exchange, but the teen said he felt disappointed by the offer. He followed up with a request to meet Cuban at a Dallas Mavericks game — the team that the billionaire bought in 2000 for about $280 million — and Cuban agreed. Though, Sweeney said the date had not been set.

"He said a lot of stuff to try and get me to take it down, but he didn't really put in the effort," Sweeney said.

The billionaire appeared unaware that the Twitter account had stopped sharing his flight data but said he would stand by his promise and not take any further action against Sweeney if he continued to stop tracking his travel.

"That's the deal I made. I will answer his business questions," Cuban said.

Earlier this year, Sweeney asked Musk for $50,000 or a Tesla in exchange for taking down the account that tracks his jets after the billionaire said he "didn't love the idea of getting shot by a nutcase." Musk blocked Sweeney on Twitter shortly after he made the counteroffer.

Sweeney said since his efforts to track Musk catapulted him into the spotlight, the public response to his work had been mixed. He said he'd gotten threats from Musk fans, but some of the people he tracks, like the billionaire Jared Isaacman, appear unbothered by the attention.
Comments

Oh ya 4 year ago
One of these rich people should hire a PI and get pictures of him or his family and electronically print cross hairs on the photos and send them to him. Maybe if he sees scope cross hairs on his moms forehead he will grow a few working brain cells.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
High-Speed Train Collision in Southern Spain Kills at Least Twenty-One and Injures Scores
Meghan Markle May Return to the U.K. This Summer as Security Review Advances
Trump’s Greenland Tariff Threat Sparks EU Response and Risks Deep Transatlantic Rift
Prince Harry’s High Court Battle With Daily Mail Publisher Begins in London
Trump’s Tariff Escalation Presents Complex Challenges for the UK Economy
UK Prime Minister Starmer Rebukes Trump’s Greenland Tariff Strategy as Transatlantic Tensions Rise
Prince Harry’s Last Press Case in UK Court Signals Potential Turning Point in Media and Royal Relations
OpenAI to Begin Advertising in ChatGPT in Strategic Shift to New Revenue Model
GDP Growth Remains the Most Telling Barometer of Britain’s Economic Health
Prince William and Kate Middleton Stay Away as Prince Harry Visits London Amid Lingering Rift
Britain Braces for Colder Weather and Snow Risk as Temperatures Set to Plunge
Mass Protests Erupt as UK Nears Decision on China’s ‘Mega Embassy’ in London
Prince Harry to Return to UK to Testify in High-Profile Media Trial Against Associated Newspapers
Keir Starmer Rejects Trump’s Greenland Tariff Threat as ‘Completely Wrong’
Trump to hit Europe with 10% tariffs until Greenland deal is agreed
Prince Harry Returns to UK High Court as Final Privacy Trial Against Daily Mail Publisher Begins
Britain Confronts a Billion-Pound Wind Energy Paradox Amid Grid Constraints
The graduate 'jobpocalypse': Entry-level jobs are not shrinking. They are disappearing.
Cybercrime, Inc.: When Crime Becomes an Economy. How the World Accidentally Built a Twenty-Trillion-Dollar Criminal Economy
The Return of the Hands: Why the AI Age Is Rewriting the Meaning of “Real Work”
UK PM Kier Scammer Ridicules Tories With "Kamasutra"
Strategic Restraint, Credible Force, and the Discipline of Power
United Kingdom and Norway Endorse NATO’s ‘Arctic Sentry’ Mission Including Greenland
Woman Claiming to Be Freddie Mercury’s Secret Daughter Dies at Forty-Eight After Rare Cancer Battle
UK Launches First-Ever ‘Town of Culture’ Competition to Celebrate Local Stories and Boost Communities
Planned Sale of Shell and Exxon’s UK Gas Assets to Viaro Energy Collapses Amid Regulatory and Market Hurdles
UK Intensifies Arctic Security Engagement as Trump’s Greenland Rhetoric Fuels Allied Concern
Meghan Markle Could Return to the UK for the First Time in Nearly Four Years If Security Is Secured
Meghan Markle Likely to Return to UK Only if Harry Secures Official Security Cover
UAE Restricts Funding for Emiratis to Study in UK Amid Fears Over Muslim Brotherhood Influence
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks to Safeguard Long-Term Agreement Stability
Starmer’s Push to Rally Support for Action Against Elon Musk’s X Faces Setback as Canada Shuns Ban
UK Free School Meals Expansion Faces Political and Budgetary Delays
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks With Britain
Germany Hit by Major Airport Strikes Disrupting European Travel
Prince Harry Seeks King Charles’ Support to Open Invictus Games on UK Return
Washington Holds Back as Britain and France Signal Willingness to Deploy Troops in Postwar Ukraine
Elon Musk Accuses UK Government of Suppressing Free Speech as X Faces Potential Ban Over AI-Generated Content
Russia Deploys Hypersonic Missile in Strike on Ukraine
OpenAI and SoftBank Commit One Billion Dollars to Energy and Data Centre Supplier
UK Prime Minister Starmer Reaffirms Support for Danish Sovereignty Over Greenland Amid U.S. Pressure
UK Support Bolsters U.S. Seizure of Russian-Flagged Tanker Marinera in Atlantic Strike on Sanctions Evasion
The Claim That Maduro’s Capture and Trial Violate International Law Is Either Legally Illiterate—or Deliberately Deceptive
UK Data Watchdog Probes Elon Musk’s X Over AI-Generated Grok Images Amid Surge in Non-Consensual Outputs
Prince Harry to Return to UK for Court Hearing Without Plans to Meet King Charles III
UK Confirms Support for US Seizure of Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker in North Atlantic
Béla Tarr, Visionary Hungarian Filmmaker, Dies at Seventy After Long Illness
UK and France Pledge Military Hubs Across Ukraine in Post-Ceasefire Security Plan
Prince Harry Poised to Regain UK Security Cover, Clearing Way for Family Visits
UK Junk Food Advertising Ban Faces Major Loophole Allowing Brand-Only Promotions
×