Student Seeking Musk’s Support Faces Suspensions On Threads And Instagram

Threads app with the Elon Musk and Twitter logo background on July 7, 2023, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Jack Sweeney, the college student who approached Elon Musk with a request for $50,000 but instead faced a Twitter ban, has moved to Mark Zuckerberg's — and Twitter competitor — Threads. PHOTO BY THILINA KALUTHOTAGE/GETTY IMAGES

Jack Sweeney, the college student who approached Elon Musk with a request for $50,000 but instead faced a Twitter ban, has moved to Mark Zuckerberg‘s — and Twitter competitor — Threads.  

“ElonJet has arrived to Threads!” Sweeney posted on Threads on Thursday.

However, on Friday, Meta’s Instagram and Threads suspended Sweeney, who uses the handle “@elonmuskjet” on Instagram and  Threads.

According to a report by Engadget, Meta initially removed the account from Threads in error but later reinstated it. Meta’s spokesperson told the outlet, “This error shouldn’t have happened. It’s been fixed.”

The account @elonmusksjet was mistakenly removed by Meta from Threads initially. However, after a brief restoration, Meta suspended the account again before reinstating it fully.

In a now-deleted tweet as reported by Engadget, Sweeney wrote, “Okay I’m assuming people are gaming the reporting system on threads but ElonJet was just suspended on IG/Threads. Meta has been aware for a while that I’ve had ElonJet on there platform so I’m hoping is a mistake. Anyway to BlueSky.”

“I would like to post on Threads just as I do on Instagram,” Sweeney, whose Instagram account currently has more than 46,000 followers, told Insider.

The Meta logo is seen with an Instagram Threads logo in the background in this illustration photo on 08 July, 2023 in Warsaw, Poland. The account @elonmusksjet was mistakenly removed by Meta from Threads initially. However, after a brief restoration, Meta suspended the account again before reinstating it fully. PHOTO BY JAAP ARRIENS/GETTY IMAGES 

Sweeney said he plans to make posts manually and hopes Meta will allow auto-posting on Threads.

In December 2022, Sweeney created a new account called @ElonJetNextDay, after Musk banned his account @ElonJet for breaking Twitter rules. Twitter said that his accounts had violated Twitter’s rules.

Musk responded to Sweeney’s account ban and tweeted, “Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.”

Last Wednesday, Meta unveiled its decentralized social media platform Threads, which gained almost 7.5 million users within five hours of its launch.

After widespread reports emerged on Thursday regarding Twitter’s alleged intentions to sue Meta for supposedly recruiting its former employees to develop the Threads app, Musk said that, while competition is fine, “cheating” is not.

Produced in association with Benzinga

Edited by Saba Fatima and Newsdesk Manager