Zuckerberg sues Facebook, but it’s not the one you think

A US lawyer named Mark S Zuckerberg -- no relation to the Facebook founder -- has sued the social media giant for repeatedly disabling his account, accusing him of "impersonating a celebrity".

The case, according to a BBC report, involves the Indiana-based bankruptcy attorney, who says his Facebook account has been shut down five times over the past eight years, costing him thousands of dollars in lost business.

He claims Facebook parent company Meta breached its contract by taking down $11,000 (£8,200) worth of advertising he had paid for.

"It's not funny," Zuckerberg told local TV station WTHR in Indianapolis. "Not when they take my money. 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."

Meta has since reinstated his account and said it was taking steps to prevent such errors in the future.

"We appreciate Mr Zuckerberg's continued patience on this issue and are working to try and prevent this from happening in the future," the company said in a statement.

According to the lawsuit, Zuckerberg has been practising law for 38 years -- long before Facebook founder Mark E Zuckerberg became a household name. His account was last shut down in May and was only restored after the lawsuit was filed.

The lawyer said he had to submit multiple forms of identification -- including his photo ID, credit cards, birth certificate and even repeated selfies -- to prove he was not faking his name. "I'm Mark Steven. And he's Mark Elliot," he said.

Zuckerberg also runs a website, iammarkzuckerberg.com, where he documents the bizarre fallout from sharing a name with one of the world's richest men. Among his experiences: being sued by the state of Washington due to mistaken identity, being removed from the Nextdoor app for allegedly using a fake name, and receiving more than 100 friend requests a day from strangers thinking he is the Facebook CEO.

He says his Facebook account is "constantly hacked", forcing him to reset his password multiple times a day, and he often turns off his phone at night to avoid a flood of misdirected messages, death threats and calls demanding tech support.

Despite the repeated incidents, he insists he holds no ill will towards the other Mark Zuckerberg. "If he ever falls upon difficult financial times and happens to be in Indiana, I will gladly handle his case in honour of our eponymy," he writes on his site.