Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic, Putin toady, serial human rights violator, cat aficionado,^* fashion victim and blocked person on the OFAC SDN List is upset that his Facebook account has been deleted. A spokesman at Facebook said this to the New York Times:

We became aware and have now confirmed that the accounts appear to be maintained by or on behalf of parties who appear on the U.S. Specially Designated Nationals List and thus subject to U.S. trade sanctions. … For this reason, Facebook has a legal obligation to disable these accounts.

Er, no. Kadyrov was sanctioned under the Magnitsky Sanctions, and the rules governing those sanctions, clearly set forth an informational materials exception. Section 584.206(b) of the Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations clearly states:

The prohibitions contained in this part do not apply to the importation from any country and the exportation to any country of any information or informational materials, as defined in §584.304, whether commercial or otherwise, regardless of format or medium of transmission

Moreover, if Facebook really believed, as its spokesperson asserted, that it has to disable accounts maintained by SDNs, why does Bashar Al-Assad still have an active account? Or Nicolás Maduro?

Something else is clearly going on here. So, as they say, don’t believe everything you read on Facebook.

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^*Click this link to get the backstory on Ramzan and his kitty cat.

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