According to a media report, Google faces remarkable fines of 2 undecillion rubles ($2.5 decillion) in Russia. This is on the backdrop after the tech giant refused to restore accounts of pro-government and state-run media. According to Russia-based RBC news, Google was fined daily of 100,000 rubles from 2020, following court victories by pro-government media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN. These media outlets sued the company for blocking their YouTube channels.
The daily penalties doubled weekly and led to an exponential increase, reaching a total fine of approximately 2 undecillion rubles. Notably, the numerical value of “undecillion” is 1 followed by 36 zeroes. The Russia’s fine imposed on Google is more than the world’s total GDP. The world GDP is estimated at $100 trillion by the World Bank. In simple terms, the fine imposed on Google is more money than what exists on Earth.
Google’s parent company Alphabet, with a revenue of over $307 billion in 2023, is highly unlikely to ever pay this fine.
Russia Imposes Fine On Google: All Details
17 Russian television channels have filed lawsuits against Google, according to the report. The list includes prominent Russian media outlets such as state-owned Channel One, military-linked Zvezda, and a company representing Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT.
YouTube, owned by Google, suspended Russian state-media accounts for supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Authorities in Moscow fined the company, but didn’t block the website.
In 2022, Google’s Russian subsidiary filed for bankruptcy and was subsequently declared bankrupt. Notably, Google suspended Russian advertising operations to adhere to Western sanctions imposed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
