An American lawyer who shares his name with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has sued Meta, saying the company wrongly kept blocking his account for impersonation. The attorney, Mark S Zuckerberg, is based in Indiana and has been practising bankruptcy law for nearly 38 years. He says Facebook has suspended his account five times in the past eight years, each time accusing him of pretending to be someone else. According to him, the repeated bans have not only hurt his practice but also cost him thousands of dollars in lost business.
His case, filed in Marion Superior Court, claims that Meta violated its agreement by pulling down paid advertisements worth about $11,000 (Rs 8.2 lakh). Explaining the impact, he told WTHR-TV: “It’s like buying a billboard on the side of the highway, paying the people for the billboard and then they come and put a giant blanket over it and you don’t get the benefit of what you paid for.”
Zuckerberg said he has provided every possible proof of identity, including his photo ID, credit cards, and several images of himself. “I’m Mark Steven. And he’s Mark Elliot,” he told the channel, pointing out that his name has been genuine long before the tech billionaire rose to fame.
“I did everything they asked me to do, like I always do. They ask you to appeal if you think your suspension is not proper. I filed the proper appeals with them the very next day and I’ve heard nothing from them and it’s been four months. The last time they did it, it was over six months before they turned my account back on. So I don’t know how else to get their attention,” the lawyer said.
His most recent suspension came in May this year. The account was restored only after he filed the lawsuit. Meta has admitted the mistake. In a statement, the company said his account had been “disabled in error” and has since been reinstated. It added: “We appreciate Mr Zuckerberg’s continued patience on this issue and are working to try and prevent this from happening in the future.”
The lawyer insists the bans have caused real harm to his business. “It’s not funny,” he told WTHR. “Not when they take my money.”
To draw attention to the unusual mix-ups caused by his name, he has even launched a website documenting past incidents, including one case where he was mistakenly sued by the state of Washington. The dispute suggests that Facebook’s automated systems can sometimes misfire, especially in cases where users share names with public figures.
