Ever heard of Mark Zuckerberg suing Mark Zuckerberg? It sounds like the plot of a sci-fi thriller, but it’s real and it’s happening right now. In a bizarre twist that feels like its directly taken from fiction, the tech billionaire is reportedly involved in legal action against an entity bearing his own name.
An Indiana-based bankruptcy attorney named Mark Zuckerberg has filed a legal case against Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta.
The lawyer, Mark Zuckerberg, maintains a commercial Facebook page to promote his practice and reach potential clients. However, over the past eight years, Meta has disabled his page five times, citing its automated moderation system, which repeatedly flagged his account as impersonating the social media platform’s founder.
The attorney with the infamous name says he’s finally had enough of the constant mix-ups. “So you’ve never been at Facebook? I’m like oh my God,” he exclaimed, throwing up his hands in exasperation. “I’m Mark Steven. And he’s Mark Elliot,” the Indianapolis-based lawyer clarified, highlighting the distinction that too often gets lost.
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For him, sharing a name with the founder of Meta has been far from amusing. What might seem like a quirky coincidence has repeatedly turned into a financial headache, with Meta’s systems flagging his accounts and even freezing access to his business page. “It’s not funny,” he said. “Not when they take my money. This really pissed me off.”
Attorney Zuckerberg has filed a lawsuit against Meta, claiming negligence and breach of contract after Facebook repeatedly shut down his pages, labeling him as “impersonating a celebrity.”
“And using a false name! Which I’ve had way longer than he has,” he said. “I’ve got better things to do than sue Facebook. They have more money and more lawyers and more resources than I do. I’d rather not pick a fight with them, but I don’t know how else to make them stop!”, quoted by the 13WTHR.
Zuckerberg revealed that his business page has been disabled five times over the past eight years, while his personal account has been taken down four times. He has spent more than $11,000 promoting his page on Meta’s platforms, but each time his account is flagged for allegedly impersonating the Meta CEO, he is still charged for the advertisements.
In his lawsuit, the lawyer included a 2020 email thread in which he inquiries about his account being wrongly disabled, noting that he has been corresponding with the platform about the issue since 2017. The lawsuit seeks to have Meta reinstate his accounts, maintain them without further disruptions, and cover his legal fees as well as the money lost on advertisements. Zuckerberg is confident in his chances of winning the case.
“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,” Mark Zuckerberg the attorney wrote in an email, quoted by TechCrunch.
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Mark Zuckerberg has long dealt with the challenges of sharing a name with the Meta CEO. He even launched a website, iammarkzuckerberg.com, documenting how his life has been affected by having the same name as the tech billionaire. “I can’t use my name when making reservations or conducting business as people assume I’m a prank caller and hang up,” Attorney Zukerberg said. “My life sometimes feels like the Michael Jordan ESPN commercial, where a regular person’s name causes constant mixups.”
The lawyer says he frequently receives calls and messages meant for the tech CEO, including threats and solicitations for money. But when the constant mix-ups started threatening his income, Mark Zuckerberg finally reached his limit with the Meta founder.
Meta replied to 13WTHR, as quoted by TechCrunch, saying, “we know there’s more than one Mark Zuckerberg in the world, and we are getting to the bottom of this.”
Zuckerberg told 13News that his account has been restored, while a Meta spokesperson provided the following statement to the outlet. “We have reinstated Mark Zuckerberg’s account, after finding it had been disabled in error. We appreciate Mr. Zuckerberg’s continued patience on this issue and are working to try and prevent this from happening in the future.”