Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is a Twitter junkie. He often targets his competitors and others with his witty and cryptic tweets. Therefore, it comes as a surprise when the Tesla boss offered a teen $5,000 (Rs 3.7 lakh) to delete his Twitter account.

The Twitter account in question tracks Musk’s private aircraft and posts regular updates about its location.

Took off from Hawthorne, Elon got PIA blocking program but already found the aircraft. pic.twitter.com/nOxNUxy5y5

— Elon Musk's Jet (@ElonJet) January 26, 2022

Jack Sweeney, a 19-year-old from Florida, has also created several other accounts which track the movement of private aircraft of other billionaires like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.

Sweeney was contacted by Musk on Twitter, where the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX requested Sweeney to take down the account in exchange for $5,000.

Also read: 'Never tweet anything controversial', Elon Musk quips as he posts this

"Can you take this down?" Musk asked Sweeney on November 30. "It's a security risk."

"I don't love the idea of being shot by a nutcase," Musk had added.

Sweeney countered with an offer of $50,000, stating that he could use the money to pay for his college or even a Tesla Model 3.

Musk had responded on January 19 that it didn’t seem right "to pay to shut this down."

Also read: All you need to know about Tesla Bot, Elon Musk’s standout product this year

"Options other than remuneration like an internship would make taking it down a lot easier," Sweeney responded.

Though Musk did not respond, Sweeney did offer Musk some advice that would make it harder for others like Sweeney to track Musk’s private jet.

"It looks like he took that advice," Sweeney told CNN, adding that Musk was using some of the blocking programs that Sweeney had suggested to the man.

Also read: Elon Musk's riposte after UN director says his '$6B' can help solve world hunger

But it hasn’t stopped Sweeney from continuing to track Musk’s plane.

"$5,000 is not enough for how much I get out of it," Sweeney told CNN. "It doesn't replace anything, like the enjoyment factor."

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)