- A Russian court has fined Google $20 decillion (20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) for blocking Russian media channels on YouTube, an amount about 200 trillion times more than all the money currently in circulation globally.
- The fine started at 100,000 rubles per day for restricting 17 Russian TV channels due to US sanctions, doubling every week, with no upper limit.
- While Google has paid billions of rubles in fines, its Russian subsidiary is effectively bankrupt since 2022, making it nearly impossible to collect any meaningful sum, as Google has largely abandoned its infrastructure in Russia.
Google has been fined an unfathomable amount of money by a Russian court for restricting access to state-owned media channels on YouTube.
Background on Russia’s Media Crackdown
In 2020, several Russian TV channels were blocked on YouTube following US sanctions on the country. These sanctions have only increased since Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year.
Russia responded by slowly cracking down on foreign tech companies like Google, passing laws that hamper their ability to operate in the country. This massive fine levied against Google is part of that crackdown.
The Absurd Fine Amount
The fine starts at 100,000 rubles per day that the channels remain restricted on YouTube. It then doubles every single week that Google does not comply.
With no upper limit set, this quickly balloons to a completely absurd amount – around 20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 US dollars. That’s around 200 trillion times more money than exists on Earth.
Clearly, this fine is not meant to be paid. It seems to be a largely symbolic action by Russia to intimidate Google.
Google’s Limited Presence in Russia
Google has already greatly reduced its presence in Russia this year. It shut down its ad business in the country back in August.
While Google Search, YouTube and other products remain available, Google is not investing in infrastructure or personnel locally. This has led to slowdowns that local competitors are trying to capitalize on.
So in reality, there is little money for Russia to extract from Google at this point. The company’s subsidiary there has been bankrupt for years due to smaller fines and sanctions.
Moving Forward
This absurd fine highlights the deteriorating relationship between Russia and Western tech giants like Google.
As Russia cracks down on foreign companies, access to products like YouTube and Google Search will likely continue to suffer in the country. Whether tensions between Russia and the West can be resolved remains to be seen.
