Mark Zuckerberg drags Mark Zuckerberg to court and no, it’s not a typo

You’d think having the same name as one of the world’s most powerful tech CEOs would come with some perks. Maybe a free blue tick, easier networking, or at least a few extra LinkedIn requests. But for one man in Indiana, sharing a name with Meta’s founder has been more of a curse than a blessing. Meet Mark Zuckerberg, a bankruptcy lawyer, who is now locked in a legal battle with-yes, you guessed it-Mark Zuckerberg.

This Mark Zuckerberg isn’t building the metaverse, he’s helping people file for bankruptcy. He has been running a Facebook page since 2017 to promote his law services, spending more than $11,000 on ads over the years. But instead of attracting steady clients, his page has often been shut down by Meta’s automated systems, flagged as “impersonating” the other Mark Zuckerberg. Imagine trying to prove you are, in fact, yourself. That’s been his daily headache.

The lawyer says the problem has cost him business, time, and money. Speaking to a local TV channel, he pointed out that he was already practising law before the billionaire Zuckerberg had even finished grade school. “It’s not funny, not when they take my money,” he quipped, making it clear that the situation is no joke when your livelihood is on the line.

And it doesn’t stop online. His name has turned everyday moments into mini sitcoms. He’s created a website called iammarkzuckerberg.com, where he documents the mix-ups: people hanging up on him because they think it’s a prank, drivers in Las Vegas holding signs with his name and accidentally drawing huge crowds, even random callers demanding money because they think he’s the tech tycoon. He once joked in an email to Meta that if they ran into “the younger, richer Mark Zuckerberg,” they should let him know because that guy causes him “great aggravation each day.”