Lawyer Mark Zuckerberg sues Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook name
A bankruptcy lawyer from Indiana, United States, has sued Facebook for repeatedly taking down his page on the claim that he was impersonating the company’s founder Mark Zuckerberg.
He asserted that despite spending thousands of dollars promoting his services on Facebook, his page is repeatedly blocked by the site, stating that his life has been complicated for sharing a name with the world’s third-richest man.
“It’s not funny. Not when they take my money,” stating that he has had the name way longer than Meta’s CEO.
Mr Zuckerberg claimed spending over $11,000 (£8,000) promoting his law practice on Facebook, still his business and personal pages had been repeatedly removed for “impersonating a celebrity”, noting that it often takes months to restore his account, leading to loss of business, which according to him, violates the law of fair deal.
“I’d rather not pick a fight with them, but I don’t know how to make them stop. I don’t know how else to get their attention.”
He said that he has submitted his photo ID, his credit cards, and multiple images of his face in order to prove his identity.
“I’m Mark Steven. And he’s Mark Elliot,” he said.
His account which was shut down in May was only restored after his lawsuit was filed.
Responding, Meta said in a statement that it was working to get to the bottom of the situation. “We know there’s more than one Mark Zuckerberg in the world, and we are getting to the bottom of this,” it said, noting that it reinstated Mr Zuckerberg’s account, after discovering 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,” the statement said.
Mr Zuckerberg has a website where he records similar cases that pertain to his name sharing with others.
