- After a four-year legal battle, Google has been fined $2.5 decillion by Russia for censoring pro-Kremlin content on YouTube.
- $2.5 decillion stands for $2.5 trillion trillion trillion, which is far more than the world’s entire GDP put together ($100 trillion).
- Google has acknowledged its ongoing legal troubles in Russia but confidently said that this issue is unlikely to have any adverse effect on its business. Experts say the same – this is an “uncollectible fine.”
Google has been fined an unbelievable (non-existent, for that matter) amount of $2.5 decillion for allegedly blocking pro-Kremlin content on YouTube and refusing to reinstate blocked pro-Kremlin accounts.
If you can’t quite figure out what a decillion even is, well, you’re not alone. Apparently, $2.5 decillion is equal to $2.5 trillion trillion trillion, which far exceeds the global GDP of $100 trillion.
As of October 2024, Google’s total worth is $2.095 trillion, so, of course, there’s no way the company (or anyone on the planet – yep, even Elon Musk) can pay such a massive amount.
It started out in 2020 as a $1,025 fine (or 100,000 rubles) per day, but the daily penalties doubled each week. So, after 4 years and almost 208 weeks later, the final sum has far exceeded anything we’ve ever even heard of. Even now, unless Google pays the fine, it will continue to double every week.
More About the Fine and the Lawsuit
The massive fine was imposed by a Russian court. As mentioned earlier, the issue began in 2020 when Russia first invaded Ukraine, following which Google banned a lot of accounts that posted nationalist Russian content due to pressure of sanctions from the United States government.
The same year, 17 Russian media stations, including Putin-owned Zvezda, sued Google under Article 13.41 of the Administrative Offenses Code, demanding their channels and accounts be reinstated. However, Google did not comply with the demand, so the legal battle kept dragging on and the fines kept piling up.
What Does Google Have to Say About This?
Google hasn’t said much about the fine but has acknowledged its legal troubles in Russia in a recent report. It also added that it doesn’t believe there will be a material impact of the fine on its business.
However, this doesn’t mean it’s the end of Google’s troubles in Russia. Given the circumstances, it looks like the company will not make a comeback in the country anytime soon.
It’s also worth noting that while the legal battle was going on, Russian authorities seized Google’s bank accounts, forcing the Russian arm of the company to file for bankruptcy. As a result, a vast majority of the employees were either moved abroad or laid off.
What happens next? Well, we can’t say for sure. However, Google’s confidence in its victory and experts saying that this is an “uncollectible fine” are only hinting at one thing: a long-drawn legal battle in multiple international courts.
