Facebook has threatened to file a lawsuit against a man who recently changed his name to Mark Zuckerberg.
According to legal documents, an Israeli entrepreneur decided to change his name from Rotem Guez to “Mark Zuckerberg.” He even has a website that explains all of the name change madness titled MarkZuckerbergOfficial.com.
“No it is not a joke,” Zuckerberg wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. “I am now legally Mark Zuckerberg, and it’s for the next 7 years :)”
The event that kicked off this ultimate display of trolling was when Guez – now known as (bizarro) Zuckerberg – started a “Like Store” that sold Facebook “likes” to businesses, a transaction which is actually forbidden by the social networking site’s policies.
Initially, Zuckerberg/ Guez sued Facebook because it would not allow him access to his “hacked” account. Then, a lawyer from Perkins Coie who represented Facebook sent a letter to Zuckerberg/Guez, in September, telling him to “immediately stop” his activities.
The lawyer asked Zuckerberg/Guez to verify before Sept. 5, 2011 that he had “stopped and will not in the future access Facebook’s site, services, platform, or network for any reason whatsoever,”
Earlier this month, Guez declared that he had legally changed his name to Mark Zuckerberg and posted pictures of his ID card and passport to show how committed he is to his prank.
Guez also uploaded a video that he claims documents his trip to the Ministry of Home Affairs to make the name change official.
This is the explanation that Zuckerberg/Guez gave to The Huffington Post for his name change:
“Facebook decided to sue me after I myself, filed a law suit against them, in Israel. i wanted that once they sue me, they’ll face suing ‘Mark Zuckerberg’. Facebook accused me of selling ficticious ‘Likes’, which is not true, our ‘Likes’ come from real users who want to receive our content, and instead of paying us with money, they pay us with ‘Likes’. The idea was, if only ‘Mark Zuckerberg’ is allowed to sell likes, then for that matter, i’m ‘Mark Zuckerberg.'”
After Guez became Zuckerberg, a week passed before Facebook’s lawyer sent another letter “demanding” that he stop violating Facebook’s terms.
“If you ignore this letter and continue your current improper conduct, Facebook will take whatever measures it believes are necessary to enforce its rights, maintain the quality of its site, and protect its users’ privacy and information,” the Perkins Coie lawyer warned.
Unsurprisingly, Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.
Zuckerberg/Guez continues to violate Facebook’s mandate by maintaining a presence on Facebook. He has opened a Facebook page with the title “I’m Mark Zuckerberg,” which boasts pictures of himself, his personal documents, and newspaper articles.
In a weird twist, Zuckerberg/Guez said in an email that he respects Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook:
“I think Mark Zuckerberg is a genius. i think he cares more about controlling the world and controlling our databases, than making money. Facebook and M.Z. have to understand that Facebook is not just any ordinary site it, along with Google, is the main avenue of the Internet. They have to take on Google’s example, not to erase content they don’t approve of. Google catorgorizes such content where it thinks it belongs, it doesn’t disable accounts and erase content.”
This situation could get even odder if Facebook decides to sue the fake Zuckerberg. Internet trolls have certainly come a long way haven’t they?
