Mark Zuckerberg's Lawyer Sues Meta

A lawyer with the same name as Meta's CEO is suing the social media giant. Photo: Bloomberg.

A lawyer in Indianapolis, Indiana (USA), is filing a lawsuit against Meta Platforms after multiple personal and business Facebook accounts were locked due to the same name as CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The plaintiff is Mark Steven Zuckerberg, a bankruptcy attorney. In an interview with local TV channel 13News , he said Meta repeatedly considered his name “fake” and locked his account for “impersonating a celebrity.”

“I am Mark Steven. He is Mark Elliot,” the lawyer stressed, claiming that the confusion had persisted for many years.

According to the lawsuit, his business account has been suspended five times in eight years. His personal Facebook has been suspended four times. Lawyer Mark Steven Zuckerberg said that despite Meta's repeated apologies and access restoration, the situation has continued to recur.

In a response to technology site Gizmodo , a Meta representative confirmed that the account had been restored and admitted the error.

“We have restored Mark Steven Zuckerberg’s account after discovering it was disabled in error. We appreciate Mr. Zuckerberg’s patience and are working to prevent this from happening again,” a Meta representative said.

However, the lawyer said the appeal process usually takes months. The most recent time, it took him half a year to get his account back. The inability to use Facebook to advertise his services and contact customers has cost him thousands of dollars.

“They have more money, more lawyers and more resources than me. I don’t want to cause trouble, but I haven’t found any other way to make them stop. A world- leading technology company that can’t even handle a situation like this, and can’t even run an effective appeals process, is clearly in trouble,” the lawyer told local television.

In the lawsuit, Mark Steven Zuckerberg asked Meta to permanently reinstate the accounts, refund lost advertising costs, and pay damages. He also expressed his desire to receive a direct apology from CEO Mark Elliot Zuckerberg.

This is the first lawsuit stemming from the name-sharing with Meta CEO, but it is not the first time Facebook has faced controversy related to its identity verification policy. Since the early 2010s, the platform has faced strong opposition for requiring users to use their real names according to legal documents. The policy at that time caused many artists, transgender people and Native American communities to have their accounts locked for not using their legal names.

Source: https://znews.vn/luat-su-mark-zuckerberg-kien-ceo-meta-post1582737.html