A Russian courtroom has handed Google an astronomical $20 decillion tremendous—an quantity that vastly exceeds the entire cash provide on the planet—after the tech big blocked accounts belonging to a number of pro-Kremlin TV channels on YouTube.
The case, which has captured international consideration as a result of unprecedented determine concerned, displays rising tensions between Google and Russia following worldwide sanctions associated to the Ukraine battle.
The lawsuit was introduced ahead by 17 Russian broadcasters, together with Russia 1 and the platform of Russia Right now presenter Margarita Simonyan, a vocal supporter of President Putin. Google’s YouTube eliminated these accounts below sanctions, prompting Moscow judges to impose a punitive tremendous described by the choose as “a case in which there are many, many zeros,” in accordance with Russian information outlet RBC.
Initially, the tremendous was set at 100,000 rubles each day, doubling each 24 hours since 2020. The ensuing penalty has now swelled to $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000—far surpassing Google’s complete income of $88.2 billion and market valuation of $2 trillion, and dwarfing the worldwide financial system’s estimated value of round $100 trillion, in accordance with the World Financial institution.
Regardless of the mounting strain, Google has proven little signal of compliance, noting in its newest earnings report that “these ongoing legal matters” are unlikely to impression its operations materially. Google wound down its Russian division in 2022, declaring chapter for its subsidiary Google LLC in Russia, though it continues to supply companies like its search engine and YouTube.
In distinction, different platforms, reminiscent of Twitter and Fb, have been outright banned by Russian authorities, though Google’s companies stay accessible. YouTube’s elimination of pro-Moscow content material has notably irked the Kremlin, particularly bans on propaganda platforms like Tsargrad TV, owned by oligarch Konstantin Malofeev.
The colossal sum, which stands as one of many largest penalties in authorized historical past, could also be extra symbolic than sensible given Google’s restricted property in Russia. But, as Russia’s authorized technique continues to escalate, the tech big seems unphased, its workforce noting that the scenario is unlikely to succeed in a tremendous as excessive as a “googol”—a determine equal to 10 adopted by 100 zeros.
