An Indiana bankruptcy lawyer who shares the same name as Facebook’s billionaire founder, has dragged Meta to court, accusing the company of repeatedly blocking his adverts and disrupting his business.
Mark Steven Zuckerberg — not to be confused with Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, the Meta CEO — said he paid more than $11,000 between 2022 and 2025 to advertise his law practice on Facebook.
However, he said his adverts were often taken down for allegedly “impersonating a celebrity” or using an “inauthentic name”.
Zuckerberg, who has spent years fending off mistaken identity issues, said the latest ordeal has cost him thousands of dollars.
Being Mark Zuckerberg
The lawyer has chronicled his struggles on a personal website titled: ‘Things that have happened to me because my name is Mark S Zuckerberg (I give it Zero likes)’.
“My personal Facebook account has been disabled five times and my business account four times because Facebook believes I am impersonating a celebrity or using a fake name,” he wrote on the website.
According to him, he was once mistakenly sued by the state of Washington, with businesses frequently cancelling his bookings believing they are pranks.
He also recalled being swarmed at a Las Vegas event, after a limo driver held up a placard with his name, leading many to assume the Meta boss was present.
‘I Just Want To Be Left Alone’
Court filings show Zuckerberg repeatedly appealed to Meta to stop deactivating his accounts, while providing government-issued ID to prove his identity.
In one email, he wrote: “I don’t want to make waves or cause problems, I just want my account to be reactivated and [be] left to play on the social media in peace.”
But after losing money to blocked ads, he decided to sue.
“It’s like paying for a billboard on the highway and then they cover it with a blanket,” he told Indianapolis station WTHR.
“This really pissed me off.”
Meta has since reinstated his account, admitting it was disabled in error. A spokesperson said the company is working to prevent a recurrence.
The case is now before Indiana’s Marion superior court.
