Name Blame: An Indiana Attorney, Mark Zuckerberg, Sues Facebook Over Wrongful Suspensions

What’s in a name? For the man who shares his with Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, it means getting repeatedly banned from Facebook for alleged impersonation.An Indianapolis-based attorney named Mark S. Zuckerberg has filed a lawsuit against the social media giant for shutting down his personal and business accounts on Facebook with claims that he was impersonating the better-known creator of the social network.The lawyer claims his verified account has been shut down on five separate occasions, including in May when his law firm’s page was banned and Meta seized $11,000 in ad funds.“It really p—es me off,” Mr. Zuckerberg said in an interview with a local news outlet, WTHR. He said he was left with no choice but to file the lawsuit for negligence and breach of contract over being banned from the platform and false accusations that he was violating the website’s terms by impersonating a celebrity.“And for using a false name, which I’ve had way longer than he has,” the attorney, who has been practicing bankruptcy law for nearly four decades, said. “I’ve got better things to do than to sue Facebook, and 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.”The case of mistaken identity has affected Mr. Zuckerberg in other ways as well. On one of his websites he posts a list of incidents that have disrupted his life because of sharing a famous name, including being sued by the state of Washington. “They thought I was the Facebook founder who was accused of endangering an adult in need of services,” he writes.Mr. Zuckerberg says he has been inundated with phone calls from strangers who were scammed with messages promising money “from Mark Zuckerberg,” and receives more than 100 friend requests daily from people looking to connect with the tech giant.“I can’t use my name when making reservations or conducting business as people assume I’m a prank caller and hang up,” another item on the list reads. Mr. Zuckerberg says he has also received death threats and harassment on Facebook’s Messenger app.In a statement to WTHR, officials for Meta said, “We know there’s more than one Mark Zuckerberg in the world, and we are getting to the bottom of this.”Mr. Zuckerberg says his lawsuit seeks nothing more than for Meta to keep his accounts open and cover his attorney fees and lost revenue.If the more famous Mr. Zuckerberg “wants to fly here personally and say I’m sorry, or maybe let me spend a week on his boat to say I’m sorry, I’d probably take him up on that.”

Name Blame: An Indiana Attorney, Mark Zuckerberg, Sues Facebook Over Wrongful Suspensions

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