A Russian court has ruled that Google owes around $20 decillion in fines for blocking the content of Russian media stations. That’s $20 trillion trillion trillion.
For comparison, Google is only worth around $2 trillion. The World Bank estimates global GDP to be around $100 trillion. This means the Russian court ordered Google to pay more money than there is on Earth.
Now, why did the court issue this ridiculous fine, one which Google absolutely will not be paying anytime soon? The drama began when Google restricted the YouTube channels of media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian court claimed this was an infringement of free speech and, after winning a lawsuit against the US tech giant, handed down a fine of 100,000 rubles—with a warning that the amount would double every day. Four years later, the fine has reached the laughable amount of $20 decillion.
As Gizmodo’s Todd Feathers pointed out, “At that rate, it will take roughly 219 weeks before Google owes $1 googol (1 followed by 100 zeros).”
Google had a division in Russia until 2022. They have since shut it down and relocated all their Russian employees, but Russian citizens can still use Google and YouTube.
Google is likely not sweating the fine; after all, the company doesn’t even have a presence there anymore. And with four years of fines against them already, it doesn’t seem likely that Google has any intention of paying even one cent of it, especially now that the numbers are astronomically stupid.
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The post Russian Court Fines Google $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 appeared first on VICE.
