San Francisco

According to The Guardian, while Musk offered Sweeney $5,000 to delete the bot @ElonJet, Sweeney asked for $50,000. Musk declined to pay and has now blocked Sweeney on the micro-blogging site.

The billionaire reached out to the 19-year-old last November to express concern about the bot.

Musk offered Sweeney $5,000 to stop tweeting about his jets. However, Sweeney turned down Musk's offer and instead demanded $50,000, saying that the amount would cover his college fees and also help him buy a Tesla car.

The negotiation between Musk and Sweeney reportedly happened over several direct messages on Twitter.

On January 26, Sweeney said he would prefer an internship over payment in exchange for deleting the account.

"I understand your view, but I hope that you would see my interest because I have been developing this since I was only in high school," Sweeney told Musk.

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