Elon Musk offered $5,000 to 19-year-old for removing a Twitter account that tracked his Private Jet

Tech news site Protocol reported on Wednesday, Elon Musk messaged the owner of a Twitter account that tracks his private jet, offering $5,000 if he took the account down.

Using bots that monitor publicly available air-traffic data, the “Elon Musk’s Jet” account depicts the movements of Musk’s private jet.

According to Protocol, the account’s owner, 19-year-old Jack Sweeney, got a message from Musk in the fall of last year at 12:13 a.m.

It said: “Can you take this down? It is a security risk.”

Sweeney replied: “Yes I can but it’ll cost you a Model 3 only joking unless?” Protocol reported.

Musk said: “I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase,” according to Protocol.

After exchanging a few messages, Musk offered Sweeney $5,000, according to Protocol.

“Any chance to up that to $50k? It would be a great support in college and would possibly allow me to get a car maybe even a Model 3,” Sweeney responded, per Protocol.

Musk said he’d think about it but hasn’t responded, according to the outlet.

When Sweeney told Musk where he was aggregating the data from, Musk responded: “Air traffic control is so primitive,” Protocol reported.

A protocol may or may not have seen the Twitter messages.

Musk tweeted earlier this month that social-media accounts tracking his movements are “becoming a security issue.”

As per Yahoo, when approached outside of hours for comment, Sweeney did not immediately respond. Elon Musk could not be reached immediately by Insider.