It emanates after Twitter accounts like @i fly Bernard and @laviondebernard emerged to track the private jets of billionaires like Bernard Arnault and expose the volume of pollution they cause.
After being followed on Twitter by climate activists, the world’s 2nd richest man has stated that he has decided to sell his personal jet so “no one can see where I go.”
Thus according Forbes’ real-time billionaires list, Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH – known for Moet, Louis Vuitton, as well as Hennessy – has a net worth of $152 billion (£134 billion), surpassing Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
Accounts like @i fly Bernard as well as @laviondebernard sprung up on Twitter to monitor Mr Arnault’s private jet and expose the amount of pollution it causes.
“With all these stories, the group did have a plane, which we sold,” the 73-year-old French business mogul told France’s Radio Classique.
“As a result, no-one is able to see where I go since I rent jets when I fly private.”
In the same interview, his son, Antoine Arnault, 45, stated that others knowing the location of the company jet could provide key insights to competitors.
“It’s not fine that our competition can see where we are at any time,” he explained. “That can not only provide ideas, but it can also provide leads and clues.”
Bernard Arnault is far from the only famous person whose carbon footprint has been scrutinized on social media.
Last year, a teen set up a Twitter account to continuously monitor Elon Musk’s private jet.
The SpaceX and Tesla CEO described the tracker, which uses air-traffic data available in the public domain, as a potential threat to his safety and offered the youngster $5,000 to shut down the @ElonJet account, which was declined.
Earlier this year, a University of Florida student approached Mr Musk for $50,000, but the innovator and world’s richest man declined.
