An Indiana bankruptcy attorney who happens to share the same name as Facebook’s billionaire founder has filed a lawsuit against Meta, accusing the company of consistently blocking his advertisements and disrupting his practice.
Mark Steven Zuckerberg — distinct from Meta CEO Mark Elliot Zuckerberg — said he spent more than $11,000 between 2022 and 2025 promoting his law firm on Facebook.
Despite this, he claimed his ads were frequently removed for allegedly “impersonating a celebrity” or using an “inauthentic name.”
Having long dealt with mistaken identity challenges, Zuckerberg said this latest episode has cost him thousands of dollars.
BEING MARK ZUCKERBERG
The attorney has documented his experiences on a personal site 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 explained on the site.
He recounted being mistakenly sued by the state of Washington and frequently facing cancellations from businesses that thought his inquiries were jokes.
At one Las Vegas event, he said he was mobbed after a limo driver displayed his name, leading attendees to believe the Meta boss had arrived.
‘I JUST WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE’
Court documents reveal Zuckerberg repeatedly appealed to Meta to stop shutting down his accounts, submitting government-issued ID to verify his identity.
In one message, 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 from blocked ads, he chose 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 restored his account, admitting it was mistakenly disabled. A spokesperson said the company is working to prevent future errors.
The case is currently before Indiana’s Marion Superior Court.