Russia Fines Google $20 Billion Trillion Trillion

After refusing to pay fines for blocking pro-Russian YouTube channels, Google owes Russia 2 undecillion rubles. That’s a 2, followed by 36 zeroes, or said another way, $20 decillion $20 billion trillion trillion. In case you’re curious as to what the fine looks like, $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. It kind of boggles the mind. To put this in perspective, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has an approximately $2 trillion market value.

TASS reported that a Russian court ordered Google to restore the YouTube channels or face mounting charges. Google has nine months to pay the fine; if it doesn’t, the fine begins to double daily, according to a lawyer in the case. In the meantime, Google can’t return to Russia until it complies. Google’s opinion is that “We do not believe these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect on earnings.”

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Google pulled back operations in the country; they did not pull out entirely as Search and YouTube continued to be available. Google’s Russia subsidiary filed for bankruptcy and paused most commercial operations after the government seized financial control of it.

TASS claims the fine on Google relates to the restriction of the content of 17 Russian media channels on YouTube, which began in 2020 and escalated after Russia invaded Ukraine. In 2021, Russia’s media regulator accused Google of restricting access to RT and Sputnik and supporting illegal protest activity. By 2022, Google’s local subsidiary was declared bankrupt, and the company stopped offering its commercial services in Russia. In July 2022, Russia fined Google 21.1bn ruble for not restricting access to material about the war in Ukraine and other content.

YouTube blocked the Tsargrad TV channel and RIA FAN, citing violations of sanctions legislation and trade rules. Tsargrad then retaliated, filing a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court. The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) found Google in violation of competition laws. The fine was set at 2 billion rubles and increased to 4 billion rubles because of non-payment.

Google and Alphabet have not made a public response. Alphabet indicated that debts at the time of bankruptcy exceeded 19 billion rubles while the subsidiary’s assets were valued at only 3.5 billion rubles. The company stopped advertising operations in Russia in compliance with Western sanctions.