A Russian court has determined that Google owes approximately $20 decillion in fines to Russian media outlets for blocking their content, with the potential for this amount to increase further.
To put this staggering figure in perspective, the World Bank estimates global GDP at roughly $100 trillion—an amount minuscule compared to the proposed fine. In other words, Google would need to gather more money than exists on Earth to pay Moscow; however, on Tuesday, it fell slightly short of that target, reporting $88 billion in quarterly revenue.
The massive fine comes after a four-year court battle that began in 2020 when YouTube banned the ultra-nationalist Russian channel Tsargrad due to U.S. sanctions against its owner. Following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, additional channels were banned, and now 17 media outlets, including Zvezda (a TV channel operated by Russia’s Ministry of Defence), are suing Google, as reported by local sources.
“Google was called by a Russian court to administrative liability under Art. 13.41 of the Administrative Offenses Code for removing channels on the YouTube platform. The court ordered the company to restore these channels,” lawyer Ivan Morozov told state media outlet TASS.
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The court imposed a fine of 100 thousand rubles ($1,025) per day, with the total fine doubling every week. Owing to compound interest (Einstein’s eighth wonder of the world), Google is now on the hook for an insane amount of money, or what the judge on Monday called “a case in which there are many, many zeros.”
Not that there’s much chance of bankrupting Alphabet over the issue. Google in Russia has been inactive since 2022 after the search giant effectively pulled out of the country following Putin’s special military operation. Google says the Russian authorities had seized its bank accounts and the offshoot was essentially bankrupt. The ad-spreader had over 200 staff in Russia and, while some have been relocated, others were laid off.
The battle is now on in courts around the globe as Russia seeks to seize Google’s assets, with little success. The Chocolate Factory certainly seems sanguine about it.
“We have ongoing legal matters relating to Russia. For example, civil judgments that include compounding penalties have been imposed upon us in connection with disputes regarding the termination of accounts, including those of sanctioned parties. “
“We do not believe these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect.”
Google had no comment on the fine at the time of publication.
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