Russian Court Imposes Unprecedented Fine on Google Over YouTube Channel Bans

A Russian court has reportedly imposed a staggeringly large fine on Google for restricting access to several YouTube channels affiliated with Russian state media.

According to the Russian news outlet RBC, the court claims that Google’s total fine has now reached an astronomical 2 undecillion rubles, equivalent to approximately $20 decillion USD.

The case was brought against Google by Russian media companies after YouTube allegedly blocked their channels, citing sanctions and trade rule violations.

Initially, the court imposed a fine of 100,000 rubles, which has been doubling weekly due to Google’s continued refusal to restore the channels.

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For perspective, “undecillion” refers to a number with 36 zeros, while “decillion” is a number with 33 zeros—meaning the $20 decillion fine translates to twenty-thousand-billion-billion-billion dollars.

In contrast, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported a net profit of $73.8 billion for 2023, up from $60 billion in 2022, making the fine exponentially larger than the company’s annual earnings.

Alexander Stefanov