A Russian court has fined Google $20 decillion for allegedly blocking pro-Kremlin propaganda on YouTube.
The fine, which is the equivalent of $20 billion trillion trillion, is the result of four years of accumulated fines, with the figure currently doubling every week under Russian law.
The original penalty of 100,000 rubles was handed to the US tech giant in 2020 after the media outlets Tsargrad and RIA FAN won lawsuits related to restrictions on their YouTube channels.
State-run news site RBC, which first reported the massive fine on Tuesday, said Google also banned other media outlets in 2022 due to their support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, resulting in further fines.
Google, which reported revenue of $306 billion last year, restricted the creation of new accounts for Russian users last month and deactivated AdSense accounts in the country in August.
Online ads have also not been served to Google users in Russia since March 2022 as part of broader sanctions against Russia.
The restrictions prompted Russian authorities to seize Google’s bank accounts, forcing the US firm’s Russian subsidiary to file for bankruptcy. Google’s free services, including YouTube and Search, have continued to operate in Russia.
Google acknowledged its ongoing legal issues in Russia in its latest quarterly results, which were published on Tuesday evening.
“We have ongoing legal matters relating to Russia,” the company noted in the report. “For example, civil judgments that include compounding penalties have been imposed upon us in connection with disputes regarding the termination of accounts, including those of sanctioned parties.
“We do not believe these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect.”
The fine appeared to have no impact on Google parent Alphabet, which saw its shares rise more than 5 per cent in after-market trading on Tuesday after beating its third-quarter earnings expectations.
This article was amended on 30 October 2024. It originally stated that Google had been fined ‘$2.5 decillion (that’s 2.5 trillion trillion trillion dollars)’ but that was inaccurate. The fine, converted from Rubles, was actually closer to $20 decillion – and that is 20 billion trillion trillion dollars.
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