Mark Zuckerberg (not the Facebook founder) is suing Meta

U.S. bankruptcy attorney Mark Zuckerberg is suing Meta because the US$1.9-trillion social media tech giant keeps suspending his professional Facebook accounts.

In a statement of claim filed in Indiana last week, attorneys for 54-year-old Mark Steven Zuckerberg of Indianapolis — not to be confused with the 41-year-old billionaire founder Mark Elliot Zuckerberg originally from Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. — say their client’s professional page has been shut down at least five times in the last eight years on allegations he is “impersonating a celebrity” and not using “an authentic name.”

The most recent, a four-month suspension that began May 3, came after the attorney invested $11,000 in advertising through Facebook and is what prompted the legal filings.

Correspondence between both parties included in the filing shows a similar incident in May 2020 and another in 2017, both of which were acknowledged by the company’s tech support team.

In the past, Zuckerberg says he had practiced patience with the semi-annual headache of getting his accounts reactivated, dutifully following the steps set out by the company. But that forbearance has expired now that he’s losing money to the company.

“My patience went away the last time they did this to me,” Zuckerberg told the Indianapolis Star last week.

“This is supposed to be one of the leading, most cutting-edge companies in the world. Surely they should be able to put some safeguards in place to ensure they quit shutting me down.”

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Zuckerberg told ABC News he is “sick of it” and noted the previous suspension lasted six months after he went through the exhaustive steps of filing an appeal. It was only resolved when he managed to speak with a “living breathing person at Meta.”

“Despite these efforts, Meta fails to reinstate Plaintiff’s commercial Facebook page in a timely manner — often taking months for reactivation to occur — while still retaining the benefit of any payment received for Plaintiff’s advertising spend,” the statement of claim reads.

The lawsuit seeks reimbursement of the advertising money, legal fees and an injunction to prevent further deactivations or suspensions.

Zuckerberg also wouldn’t mind an apology from the other Zuckerberg.

“If he wants to fly here personally to say sorry or maybe let me spend a week on his boat to say I’m sorry, I’d probably take him up on that,” he told WTHT-TV.

Two days after the suit was filed, Meta reinstated the page for Bankruptcy Law Office of Mark S. Zuckerberg, acknowledging “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,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement to the Star and ABC News.

National Post has reached out to Zuckerberg and Meta Platforms Ltd. for additional comment.

The lawsuit also alleges his personal account has been deactivated or suspended “on a repeated basis for the last 14 years.”

When he first signed up for an account in 2009, Facebook required him to submit copies of his identification and his bar association license to prove he was legit, according to Wired .

He later told Forbes that he would field up to 500 friend requests daily from people mistaking him for the other Mark Zuckerberg, a trend that increased dramatically in the fall of 2010 when David Fincher’s The Social Network was released.

The account was quickly reinstated when the story drew local, national and international media attention.

Around the same time, the Indianapolis Zuckerberg launched IamMarkZuckerberg.com , a somewhat tongue-in-cheek website that differentiates between the two men.

“He has been immersed in technology almost since birth. I’m happy to be able to accomplish my electronic tasks without screaming,” Zuckerberg wrote.

“One thing we do share is a laser sharp focus on what we do. Facebook’s success owes to the determination and intensity of young Mr. Zuckerberg. My Indiana bankruptcy law practice gets the same laser focus from me and my competent staff.”

And in honour of their “eponymy”, the attorney promises to “gladly handle” any bankruptcy proceedings the tech billionaire might experience in the state of Indiana.

While sharing the name scored him a reservation at a Las Vegas restaurant on one occasion and he was once the subject of a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire question, it’s been more nuisance than boon. He told Wired that he no longer uses his last name when making reservations or travelling.

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