Current:Home > ScamsThe new Twitter account @DeSantisJet tracks the Florida governor's air travel -Ascend Finance Compass
The new Twitter account @DeSantisJet tracks the Florida governor's air travel
View
Date:2025-04-12 16:00:07
A new Twitter account is tracking the state government jet used by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — and providing updates after the plane lands.
Jack Sweeney, the 20-year-old who created the popular Twitter page tracking billionaire Elon Musk's private jet, recently debuted the new account following the Florida governor.
Sweeney told NPR that he doesn't have a specific goal in mind for @DeSantisJet other than to "share the information and make it available to everybody that might be interested."
He said he had been intending to create an account following Florida's government jet and eventually got around to it, given the buzz around the expected Republican presidential hopeful.
"It was on my list to do, and with all the things going on, I thought it would be good to bring transparency there to everybody and bring my abilities for everyone else to see where the jet is going," Sweeney said.
Neither the Florida governor's office nor a DeSantis political spokesperson replied to a request for comment.
It's not uncommon for governors — especially those in large states — to take government-owned planes or helicopters on official business. But DeSantis has been criticized for how he's used taxpayer-funded aircraft in the past.
The nonprofit watchdog Integrity Florida said recently that the governor was traveling on a state plane to attend events that resembled campaign rallies, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The group's research director, Ben Wilcox, accused DeSantis of "really blurring the lines between what is considered campaign activity and his public duties of the office," a charge the governor's office denied.
The Twitter account notes that tracked flights "do not guarantee that DeSantis is onboard." Sweeney, an information technology major at the University of Central Florida, said he may also try to track any flights DeSantis takes on the private planes of his political donors.
In December, the account Sweeney created to track Musk's jet was was suspended after Musk bought Twitter and said the account posed a personal safety risk.
A version of the account is back up but provides tracking information on Musk's jet with a 24-hour delay. The page following DeSantis's jet is also delayed by one day.
Sweeney also posts flight tracking information for certain jets he follows on other social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook.
veryGood! (575)
Related
- Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
- Archeologists find musket balls fired during 1 of the first battles in the Revolutionary War
- Bears finally come to terms with first-round picks, QB Caleb Williams and WR Rome Odunze
- Organizers expect enough signatures to ask Nebraska voters to repeal private school funding law
- Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
- Out-of-state officers shot and killed a man wielding two knives blocks away from the RNC, police say
- What to watch as the Republican National Convention enters its third day in Milwaukee
- Joe Manganiello Says Sofía Vergara's Reason for Divorce Is Simply Not True
- NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
- Three days after attempted assassination, Trump shooter remains an elusive enigma
Ranking
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Tribes and Environmentalists Press Arizona and Federal Officials to Stop Uranium Mining Near the Grand Canyon
- Donald Trump is the most prominent politician to link immigrants and crime but not the first
- Zenith Asset Investment Education Foundation: The critical tax-exempt status of 501(c)(3) organizations
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- MLB All-Star Game: Rookie pitchers to start Midseason classic
- Tiger Woods fires back at Colin Montgomerie's suggestion it's time to retire
- The billionaire who fueled JD Vance's rapid rise to the Trump VP spot — analysis
Recommendation
Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
US government must return land it took and never developed to a Nebraska tribe under new law
Secure Your Future: Why Invest in an IRA with Quantum Prosperity Consortium Investment Education Foundation
Builders Legacy Advance Investment Education Foundation: The value of IRA accounts 4
Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
Archeologists find musket balls fired during 1 of the first battles in the Revolutionary War
Arthur Frank: The Essence of Investing in U.S. Treasuries.
Builders Legacy Advance Investment Education Foundation: The critical tax-exempt status of 501(c)(3) organizations