An Indiana bankruptcy lawyer named Mark Zuckerberg has filed a lawsuit against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, alleging that the platform’s moderation systems have repeatedly disabled his Facebook page due to mistaken identity.
The lawyer, who uses his commercial Facebook page to advertise his legal practice and communicate with potential clients, claims his page has been disabled five times in the last eight years because Meta’s algorithms flag his account as impersonating the tech mogul.
According to the legal complaint, the lawyer emphasizes that he is not impersonating anyone, as he, too, is named Mark Zuckerberg. He further notes that he has been practicing law since the Meta CEO was only three years old.
“It’s not funny,” the lawyer, Mark Zuckerberg, told Indianapolis’ 13WTHR. “Not when they take my money. This really pissed me off.”
The lawyer claims he has spent over $11,000 on advertising his page on Meta platforms. Despite this investment, his account is frequently disabled for allegedly impersonating the younger Mark Zuckerberg, yet he is still charged for the advertisements.
The lawsuit includes a copy of a 2020 email thread in which the lawyer inquired about his wrongly disabled account, noting that he had been in contact with the platform regarding this issue since 2017.
“Also, if you happen to run into the younger, richer Mark Zuckerberg, tell him I said hi and he causes me great aggravation each day,” the lawyer wrote in one email.
The lawyer has even created a website, iammarkzuckerberg.com, to document how sharing a name with the billionaire has impacted his life.
“I can’t use my name when making reservations or conducting business as people assume I’m a prank caller and hang up,” he stated. “My life sometimes feels like the Michael Jordan ESPN commercial, where a regular person’s name causes constant mixups.”
He recounts instances where his shared name has caused confusion, such as when a limo driver in Las Vegas awaited him with a sign reading “Mark Zuckerberg,” leading to disappointment among a waiting crowd.
The lawyer also reports receiving phone calls and messages intended for the tech CEO, including death threats and requests for money. He claims that the ongoing nuisance, coupled with the potential loss of income due to account suspensions, prompted him to take legal action.
“We know there’s more than one Mark Zuckerberg in the world, and we are getting to the bottom of this,” Meta told the 13WTHR.
Despite the challenges, the lawyer finds some solace in the fact that he consistently appears first in Google searches for “Mark Zuckerberg bankruptcy.”
“I don’t wish Mark E. Zuckerberg any ill will at all,” he wrote on his website. “I hope the best for him, but let me tell you this: I will rule the search for ‘Mark Zuckerberg bankruptcy.’ And if he does fall upon difficult financial times, and happens to be in Indiana, I will gladly handle his case in honor of our eponymy.”
