Even Silicon Valley’s most powerful figure has discovered that local laws don’t bend easily. After years of disputes, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been compelled to close an unlicensed private school that had been quietly operating inside his lavish Palo Alto estate.

The secretive project, affectionately named the “Bicken Ben School” after one of the family’s pet chickens, had been running since 2021. Designed in a Montessori-style format, it served around 30 to 40 children but never obtained the proper city permits.

What began as an innocent experiment soon stirred controversy in Palo Alto’s Crescent Park neighbourhood. Residents started noticing cars dropping off children daily at the Zuckerberg home. What appeared to be a playgroup was, in fact, a full-fledged school operating without approval.

By 2022, whispers had turned into collective outrage. Neighbours accused the city of granting Zuckerberg special treatment and overlooking repeated violations. “We find it quite remarkable that you are working so hard to meet the needs of a single billionaire family while keeping the rest of the neighbourhood in the dark,” one furious resident wrote to the city’s Planning Department, according to documents obtained by WIRED.

The unauthorized school was just one of many grievances’ locals had with Zuckerberg’s expanding compound. Over nearly a decade, residents endured constant construction, security patrols, and noise as the billionaire reportedly acquired 11 nearby properties. City inspectors described being followed by SUV-riding guards during site visits.

“This appears to be more than a homeowner with a security fetish,” building inspection manager Korwyn Peck remarked in a 2020 email.

When formal complaints about the school reached officials in 2024, tensions escalated further. One resident urged the city to “issue a cease-and-desist order,” claiming the school was expanding despite multiple code violations.

In an attempt to ease tensions, Palo Alto planning director Jonathan Lait proposed a “nuanced solution” that would temporarily allow educational activities to continue. But this only fuelled frustration. “Would I, or any other homeowner, be given the courtesy of a ‘nuanced solution’ if we were in violation of city code for over four years?” another resident shot back.

Behind the scenes, Zuckerberg’s legal team argued that the classes were an “appropriate residential use” and even explored registering as a large family daycare to avoid stricter oversight—but the plan fell through.

By March 2025, the city issued a formal June 30 shutdown deadline, threatening legal action if operations continued. According to state records, the Bicken Ben School officially closed in August 2025. A Meta family spokesperson, Brian Baker, later said the school had merely “relocated,” though its new site remains undisclosed.

City spokesperson Meghan Horrigan-Taylor defended the enforcement actions, stating, “Officials enforce zoning, building, and life safety rules consistently, without regard to who owns a property.”

The Bicken Ben saga underscores a larger reality in Silicon Valley — where billionaire ambition often clashes with community rules. This time, however, the neighbourhood won.