Twitter users play along as college student tracks Russian jets, yachts
What started as just a solitary fan following the whereabouts of high-profile businesspeople has turned into an international game of hide-and-seek, a recent search with Paraqeet revealed.
University of Central Florida student Jack Sweeney used public information to create bots that track the air travel of movers and shakers such as Jeff Bezos, Mark Cuban and Elon Musk. The @ElonJet account spawned nearly 400,000 followers and a cash offer from Musk to shut it down. Sweeney turned him down, became national news and kept the accounts running.
But the fun and games of Sweeney’s hobby took a serious turn when Ukraine came under attack and the Twitterverse wondered if Sweeney could turn his tracking skills on Russia. He obliged. First up, @Putinjets. And, with that, one single person made hundreds of thousands of people sit up and take notice.
He expanded his accounts to include Russian oligarchs — extremely wealthy, super-politically connected Russian businessmen — with @RUOligarchJets, which attracted more than 400,000 followers.
After world leaders turned their eyes to the oligarchs’ riches — President Joe Biden vowed to seize their “ill-begotten gains” — the hide-and-seek game turned high stakes.
Again, Sweeney obliged.
Twitter has taken to the hunt like a pro. One plane landed in Virginia, reportedly to pick up Russian diplomats, and the bot, as it’s designed to do, documented the flight.
But that wasn’t enough for the Twitter crowd.
News coverage has reported Russian-owned yachts being moved quickly from their docks and slips to friendlier waters. Not to be outdone by the jetspotters, others around the world offered movement reports and sightings of yachts for possible seizure.
The posting of potentially seaworthy snags was so frequent it became a meme.
Sweeney’s detractors accused him of trying to blackmail business leaders and chastised him for threatening their security. Others expressed fear for his safety, and at least one poster suggested the British should hire him to help the government seize Russian assets.
Pro or con, the popularity of his accounts shows how rapidly an idea can take hold on social media and evolve into an event everyone wants to join.
As the hide-and-seek of assets continues, Sweeney did tell CBS MoneyWatch, “It would be pretty cool to see one of their planes seized,” but he admitted to Business Insider he believes the Russians probably will just ignore all of the online activity he’s created.
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