November 1st 2024.
Russia, one of the world's largest countries, is currently demanding an incredible amount of money from one of the biggest tech companies in the world. According to reports, Google has been ordered to pay over 2 undecillion rubles to the Kremlin for refusing to pay fines related to blocking pro-Russian channels on YouTube. To put this into perspective, that's a 2 followed by 36 zeroes, which is virtually impossible to comprehend. This amount also translates to US$20 decillion, or around US$20 billion trillion trillion, making it a staggering sum that far surpasses the size of the global economy.
For comparison, the International Monetary Fund estimates that the world's gross domestic product is around US$110 trillion. Even Google's parent company, Alphabet, which has a market value of approximately US$2 trillion, pales in comparison to the amount that Russia is seeking. According to reports from Russian state media TASS, a court has ordered Google to restore the blocked YouTube channels or face increasing penalties, with the fines doubling every week. These channels have been blocked since 2022, and the lawsuit has only added to the already astronomical sum that the company owes.
When asked about the lawsuit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged that the amount is so large that he struggles to even pronounce it correctly. However, he emphasized that this amount holds great symbolic significance and that Google should not be restricting the actions of Russian broadcasters on its platform. CNN has reached out to Google for comment, but the company has not yet responded.
In its quarterly earnings report, Google mentioned ongoing legal matters related to its business in Russia. The company stated that it has been facing civil judgments with compounding penalties due to disputes over the termination of accounts, including those belonging to sanctioned parties. However, Google remains confident that these legal matters will not have a significant negative impact on its operations.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Google has scaled back its operations in the country but has not completely withdrawn like some other American tech companies. Many of its services, including Search and YouTube, are still available in Russia. However, the company's Russian subsidiary filed for bankruptcy and halted most of its commercial operations after the government seized control of its bank accounts.
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