Because Elon has continuously misrepresented this:
The data used for flight-tracking accounts like ElonJet - called ADS-B data - are transmitted from nearly every plane in the sky.
The signals are unencrypted, and anyone with a $20 RTL-SDR radio can pick them up. Aviation hobbyists gather the data and put them on websites like ADS-B Exchange.
It's publicly available, legally acquired data of the kind Elon Musk said he'd allow, until suddenly he no longer did.
How The Washington Post has used flight data:
* To track a former president's emergency landing (in 2022): https://wapo.st/3HGp8IA
* To map out how military helicopters flew over George Floyd protests (in 2020): https://wapo.st/3V3WRie
* To raise questions about Elon Musk's flights (in 2019): https://wapo.st/2RmjE7X
* To investigate The Post's owner Jeff Bezos (in 2018): https://wapo.st/3YmLt3M
* To document extravagant trips on the taxpayer dime (in 2017): https://wapo.st/3HMh9d0
A plane carrying former president Donald Trump suffered engine failure late Saturday evening over the Gulf of Mexico, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing in New Orleans shortly after taking off from the city.