Russia Fines Google $2.5 Decillion Over YouTube Ban – RBC

Google has been fined about 2 undemillion rubles ($2.5 decillion) in Russia after years of refusing to restore the accounts of pro-Kremlin and state-run media, RBC news website reported Tuesday, citing an anonymous source familiar with court rulings against the technology company.

According to RBC’s sources, Google started accumulating daily fines of 100,000 rubles in 2020 after the pro-state media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN won lawsuits against the company for blocking their YouTube channels. These daily fines are doubled every week, leading to the current total fine of around 2 undemillion roubles.

Undecillion is a number equal to 1 followed by 36 zeros. Google, whose parent company Alphabet reported revenue of more than $307 billion in 2023, is unlikely to ever pay the incredibly high fine.

A total of 17 Russian TV channels have filed legal claims against Google, according to one of RBC’s sources. Among them are the state-run Channel One, the military-affiliated Zvezda broadcaster and a company representing RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, blocked several Russian state-run media outlets over their support for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The authorities in Moscow retaliated with fines, but stopped short of blocking the website.

Google’s Russian subsidiary filed for bankruptcy in the summer of 2022 and was officially declared bankrupt last fall. Alphabet Inc’s Google had previously stopped advertising in Russia to comply with Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine.