Google Facing a Googol in Russian Fines for Kremlin YouTube Takedowns
Big fines by regulators on tech companies are nothing new, but the scale of one imposed by a Russian court on Google is astronomical. For removing Russian state-run channels and pro-government accounts from YouTube in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia is demanding that Alphabet pay up 20 undecillion rubles ($2.5 decillion USD) or face its being blocked from doing business in the country indefinitely.
The sum is so ludicrously large that even the Kremlin conceded to NBC News it was more a symbolic gesture than money it expects to bolster its war funds. The fine is far greater than the world's total GDP, estimated at $110 trillion USD by the International Monetary Fund.
Russian news agency Tass reported that Google owes Russia a 36-figure sum for violating the country’s Administrative Offences Code by banning YouTube channels.
The report added that if Google fails to pay the fine within nine months, it will double every day thereafter, with no upper limit to the final figure. Google will be locked out of Russia until it pays the fine.
Google may be one of the wealthiest companies in the world, but it would take it 33.8 quintillion years to pay off, calculated Fortune, a period that will continue to double in length the longer the fine is unpaid.
“Although it is a specific amount, I cannot even say this number, it is rather filled with symbolism,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told NBC News in a daily news briefing. “The company should not restrict our broadcasters on their platform. This should be a reason for the Google leadership to pay attention to this and improve the situation.”
A private complaint was placed with authorities in 2021 when Tsargrad TV channel and RIA FAN were blocked from YouTube owing to U.S. sanctions. However, it became a state matter when Google blocked the Russian state news agencies RT and Sputnik after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The Russian media have also appealed to courts in Turkey, Hungary, Spain, and South Africa with a request to recognize and enforce the court decisions issued against Google in Russia. In June, the High Court of the Republic of South Africa granted a motion to seize Google’s assets in that country. This happened after the corporation did not comply with a court order from a Moscow court to restore the account of the Russian TV channel Spas on YouTube.
Hundreds of other multi-national companies have pulled out of Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
In its Q2 2024 report, Google acknowledged the pressures it had faced from Russian authorities.
“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,” the group said.
While an undecillion counts 36 zeros it is not as big a number as a googol—the name on which Sergey Brin and Larry Page founded Google. It has one hundred zeroes. At the rate the fine is accumulating it might reach that level soon.
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