A Russian court has ordered Google to pay the record fine of two undecillion roubles for blocking Russian state media channels on YouTube. The figure is unprecedented, exceeding $20,000,000,000,000,000,000, a sum far beyond Google’s $2 trillion valuation, and even the global GDP, estimated at $110 trillion by the IMF. The astronomical fine, with 36 zeros following the number two, exemplifies the ongoing escalation between Russia and the tech giant.

Did you know? The world economy was worth $100,562,000,000,000 in 2022, according to Worldometer. This figure is based on the World Bank’s World Development Indicators and the United Nations’ World Population Prospects 2022.

Russia fines Google and the amount is ‘beyound pronounciation’

The Kremlin continues to pressure Google to sort out its mounting fines that rise time after time. Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov added that the fine figure has become so large it’s “beyond pronunciation,” yet he urged the management to Google to work out the issue. But from Google, nothing was posted publicly, nor was an official statement on the case of the fine.

The Google saga of fines by Russia started in 2020 when Russia lodged a complaint against YouTube for blocking access to 17 state-controlled media channels. Things only worsened as the launching of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 brought with it massive sanctions from the West and evacuations of business operations from Russia, even by Google itself. Even as Google went into bankruptcy and suspended its commercial services in Russia in 2022, the Russian government kept squeezing its finances.

Russia has been constantly clashing with Google over its supposedly “banned” content, demanding that it remove war-related material about the Ukrainian conflict and anti-government protests. Google was fined a huge amount in July 2022 amounting to 21.1 billion roubles or $301 million for not deleting specific content.

Independent journalism and freedom of expression are largely restricted in Russia, as the country strictly controls the media channels. The Russia fines Google case shows that the current confrontation between the Russian authorities and international companies that handle technology has taken a very extreme level, with the steps taken by Moscow against Western corporations and increasing the level of media restrictions.

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