What was claimed
Mark Zuckerberg’s real name is Jacob Greenberg and he is David Rockefeller’s grandson.
Our verdict
None of this is true.
Mark Zuckerberg is not David Rockerfeller’s grandson
12 August 2022
What was claimed
The Rothschilds own nearly 10% of all Facebook shares and Facebook was funded by $500 billion from a CIA-owned bank.
Our verdict
None of this is true.
A post on Facebook claims that Facebook founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's real name is Jacob Greenberg, he is the grandson of David Rockefeller and that “The Rothschild's own nearly 10% of all Facebook shares, 6 fb [sic] was funded with $500.000.000 usd from a cia owned bank”.
None of this is true.
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Mark Zuckerberg’s real name is not Jacob Greenberg
According to the fact checking organisation Snopes, this theory seems to have stemmed from the 2012 arrest of a man called Jacob Greenberg in Arizona, whose mugshot “reminded some people” of Mark Zuckerberg. However, comparing the two side by side shows there is little resemblance.
Mr Zuckerberg is also not the grandson of the billionaire banker turned philanthropist David Rockefeller.
Mr Zuckerberg was born in 1984 to dentist Ed Zuckerberg and psychiatrist Karen Zuckerberg.
Mr Zuckerberg has spoken about his paternal grandfather, Jack Zuckerberg, who served in World War Two. His maternal grandfather was called Sidney Kempner. Neither was Mr Rockefeller.
Mr Rockefeller was survived by five of his children, ten grandchildren and another 10 great-grandchildren when he died aged 101 in 2017.
The Rothschilds
The Rothschild family is a European banking dynasty which is often the subject of conspiracy theories, like having connections to public figures or owning media organisations.
There’s no evidence that Meta, the holding company that owns Facebook, is owned in any part by the Rothschilds. Significant Meta shareholders include Mr Zuckerberg himself, other senior staff, and investment firms BlackRock and the Vanguard Group.
There’s no evidence Jeff Rothschild, the entrepreneur who joined Facebook in 2005, is related to the banking family. We’ve debunked false claims made about him before.
No evidence Facebook was funded by a CIA-owned bank
According to a Reuters fact check, this claim may have originated from a 2011 page on satirical site The Onion, which had the headline: “CIA's 'Facebook' Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs”.
There is a venture capital firm that invests in tech to help the CIA and other US intelligence agencies equipped, called In-Q-Tel. However, there’s no evidence this firm has invested in Facebook.
Full disclosure: Full Fact receives funding from Meta but the company has no involvement in the editorial process and does not tell us what to write.
Image courtesy of JD Lasica
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because none of the claims about Mark Zuckerberg are true.