That is the situation Google, Facebook, Twitter and other U.S. tech firms are faced with right now, as they host, distribute, amplify and in some cases help monetize Vladimir Putin’s propaganda outlets– including Russian state media that are already registered as foreign agents, as well as the official accounts of Putin’s government and its officials. With military vehicles pushing west across Ukraine, bombs falling on its cities, and blood already shed in its streets, Putin’s propaganda machine continues to advance its message on American social media platforms, part of a wholly illegal, unconscionable attack.

It is time for Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Parag Agrawal and other Silicon Valley leaders to choose sides, and to suspend these accounts until Russia ceases its attack and withdraws from Ukraine. The apps they operate are not fun and games. Their platforms are not an abstract realm of ideas and debate. They are vehicles for the exercise of power. This is war- and the lies and falsehoods that the Russian state media and Putin’s officials will share in the next days across American social media platforms are weapons intended to legitimize the Kremlin’s brutality, divide Ukraine’s allies and diminish any potential opposition.